85% of each dollar we pay in premiums must be spent on health care. That's the good news. The bad news? Not costs. The CBO liked what it saw in the final Democratic bill.
The CBO said that the final legislation, unveiled Saturday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, would cost $871 billion over the next 10 years and reduce the deficit by $132 billion over the same period. That's more than the first Senate bill had cost.
Roughly 31 million Americans would receive new coverage under the legislation. ...The Hill
According to Steve Benen, "The new score is higher than the $848 billion/10 year price tag the CBO gave Harry Reid's original reform bill -- the one that merged the HELP and Finance Committee bills -- but it does more."
That's where tightening the amount insurers can take from premiums for administration costs and profits. They also have to rebate any amount over that 85%.
So the only bad news is what we'd like but didn't get. From what I've read so far, this looks like an acceptable bill from the Senate. Next: blending it with the House bill.
