Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) formally released the committee’s health systems reform bill, which would extend health insurance coverage to millions of uninsured residents and cost an estimated $856 billion over 10 years.
The bill replaces a public plan with a network of not-for-profit health cooperatives. The legislation also would: create a national insurance exchange through which individuals and small businesses could purchase coverage; require all U.S. residents to obtain health coverage while providing tax credits for low-income U.S. residents; and prohibit health insurers from denying coverage to U.S. residents with pre-existing conditions.
The proposal would implement industry fees and taxes on the highest-priced health care plans to generate funds and prevent it from adding to the federal deficit. The measure now has to be considered by the Finance Committee in a mark-up session.
Read the bill on the Wall Street Journal Web site.
