The Senate Finance Committee has posted the legislative language of its Obamacare bill - "America's Healthy Future Act 2009" at the committee Web site – all 1,502 pages of it. You can access the language in PDF format here, or you can read the following-embedded version:
Baucus Health Care Bill 'America’s Healthy Future Act 2009' - Senate Finance Committee -
Note the first sentence:
To provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending, and for other purposes [the emphasis is mine].
We will have to do a lot of reading to decipher what is meant by "other purposes."
The status of the bill, known as S. 1796 - America’s Healthy Future Act, can be tracked through the Library of Congress at http://thomas.loc.gov.
Senate Democratic leaders, despite many Obama promises of transparency, are now working in secret to combine the Baucus/Senate Finance Committee bill with the 839-page Obamacare legislation approved by the Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee in July. That bill, known as S. 1679 - the Affordable Health Choices Act, can be accessed in PDF format here.
According to David M. Herszenhorn, of the New York Times Prescriptions blog, the Democrats are trying to resolve their differences on five main issues:
- THE PUBLIC OPTION - The Senate health committee included in its bill a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers. The Finance Committee did not include a public option, and instead proposed the creation of private, nonprofit health cooperatives.
- AFFORDABILITY - Some Senate Democrats are worried that subsidies to help moderate-income Americans buy health insurance are still not generous enough.
- A “CADILLAC” TAX - The Finance Committee bill includes a proposed excise tax on high-cost, or “Cadillac,” health insurance policies. The health committee has no jurisdiction over taxes, but some senators are concerned that the tax will hit too many middle-class workers, especially members of labor unions.
- AN EMPLOYER MANDATE - The health committee requires most employers to provide health insurance or pay a penalty of $750 a year for each full-time employee. The Finance Committee requires employers to contribute toward subsidies for employees who do not get benefits.
- OTHER SPENDING ITEMS - The health committee bill includes authorization for spending on numerous programs including prevention and wellness. But President Obama’s goal of keeping the cost of the legislation to about $900 billion means that some of those proposals must be curtailed.
Only after the two Senate bills are combined, will allow the Congressional Budget Office be able to prepare a precise cost estimate of the Democrats Obamacare legislation.
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