The photo shows very happy-looking Senators Reid and Schumer as they announce the Senate's proposed health care bill. For a start, the cost is well within the limit of $900 billion. It contains a public option and would cover many more people.
It resembles the House bill while being different in important ways. It has a long, long name: the PP and AC Act. That's "patient protection" and "affordable care."
The bill faces its first vote in the next few days. No one knows for sure whether the votes are there for Reid and Schumer.PP/AC will be phased in over 5 years and will:
- establish a new public insurance plan, which would compete with private insurers. States could opt out of the public plan by passing legislation.
- increase the Medicare payroll tax on high-income people and impose a new excise tax on high-cost “Cadillac health plans” offered by employers to their employees.
- not go as far as the House bill in limiting access to abortion
- require most Americans to obtain health insurance, while imposing less stringent penalties on people who did not comply.
- create a voluntary federal program to provide long-term care insurance and cash benefits to people with severe disabilities
- contain a source of revenue by imposing a 5 percent tax on elective cosmetic medical procedures
- raise revenue by levying annual fees on health insurance companies and pharmaceutical manufacturers
The final budget numbers came in late in the evening.
The official cost analysis released by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office shortly after 11 p.m. showed that Mr. Reid’s bill came in under the $900 billion goal suggested by Mr. Obama. But 24 million people would still be uninsured in 2019, the budget office said. About one-third of them would be illegal immigrants.
The Congressional Budget Office has said the House bill would reduce deficits by $109 billion over 10 years and cover 36 million people, but still leave 18 million uninsured in 2019.
