Community | October 20, 2009 | 17 comments

House Democrats trim health bill to $871 billion

source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33406355/ns/politics-health_care_reform/?ocid=twitter

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WASHINGTON - House Democrats are aiming to scale back the cost of their health care bill to well below President Barack Obama's preferred price tag by giving the government a strong hand in selling insurance in competition with the private market.

Obama has sought to spend no more than $900 billion over a 10-year period. The initial cost of the House bill was more than $1 trillion. On Tuesday, House Democratic leaders received a new cost estimate of $871 billion from congressional budget umpires who measured a robust version of a so-called public option for health insurance, according to a Democratic aide.

The figures were preliminary because no final decision on the design of the public plan had been made, said the aide, who requested anonymity in discussing the bill because the deliberations were private.

The House bill with the strong public plan would extend coverage to 96 percent of uninsured Americans and significantly reduce budget deficits.

A $871 billion bill in the House would be in line with the leading Senate bill, the $829 billion measure approved last week by the Senate Finance Committee...

Pelosi assembled Democratic lawmakers Tuesday night to try to sell them on her preferred version of the public plan, which would link payment rates to providers to Medicare rates, plus an additional 5 percent for doctors. Moderates have been concerned that those rates are too low and would hurt hospitals and other providers particularly in rural areas.

Several lawmakers said they were getting close to the 218-vote majority needed for the stronger version.

Source: MSNBC

Good news all around. In the house version we'll get a less costly bill that includes a strong public option, and the Senate is, at the very least, gaining momentum for some type of public option.
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17 comments // House Democrats trim health bill to $871 billion

  • sunkisthappy
  • bashirdr
    • 0
      bashirdr  

    • People, pay attention. The cost of the plan is not coming out of your pockets. It is designed to be deficit neutral, and will mostly pay for itself by eliminating waste in the system. The cheaper they make it, the more they can reimburse doctors and the more they can subsidize coverage for the poor.

      Also, remember that the public option will basically be setting up a large cooperative that pools risk, making premiums more efficient and less expensive on the merits.

    • 2 years ago
  • J_Jammer
    • 0
      J_Jammer [removed]  
    • bashirdr:

      Prove it and then promise we won't have higher taxes ANYWHERE.

      Because as we all know America's dollar is crap and it's crap because of the amount of dollars in unnecessary circulation...

      where is this waste coming from? Because Congress hasn't stopped earmarking no matter if they are republican or democrat.

    • 2 years ago
  • NotFooled
  • J_Jammer
    • 0
      J_Jammer [removed]  

    • They wouldn't have a money issue if they could collect taxes from people that just don't pay.

      hundreds of billions of dollars don't get collected for taxes.

      They need to change how they get taxes so they can get their money so they can waste it.

    • 2 years ago
  • serenden68
    • 0
      serenden68  

    • ugh i wish people would stop down playing everything they hear that either obama or the dems or even the reps r doing.

      actually learn about the subject b4 you talk about something you really have no idea about, quit taking other people's words at face value and do some damn research instead of being ignorant, develop your own opinion and make your own choice as to wether or not your for or against it.

    • 2 years ago
  • dv627univ
  • thorstein
    • 0
      thorstein  

    • How is spending more money and making people take practically free insurance supposed to help the economy? You bail out car company execs, financial execs, but you undermine the one sector that has provided some growth in this country. This last solution is a joke.

    • 2 years ago
  • MrMaven
    • 0
      MrMaven  
    • thorstein:

      The private insurance companies only provide financial growth by being profitable. They can only be profitable by denying claims. Denying claims causes more cost to the citizen that can afford insurance in the first place. Those who are not insured can't afford treatments. No treatments help grow treatable viruses and illnesses that would have been eradicated. More powerful viruses require more powerful drugs which cost privately insured more money and probably wouldn't be covered by private plans that need to preserve profits. Do you see a cycle developing here. Take care of your people and the country will heal itself.

    • 2 years ago
  • RaceBannon
    • 0
      RaceBannon  

    • we're such a capitalist country its almost kind of a joke. The government is in the insurance biz now and wants to sell it to their citizens. I can only thank the stars that our fire department and police department no longer sell their services anymore.

    • 2 years ago
  • JonRaymond
    • 0
      JonRaymond  

    • Pelolsi has stated that single payer is off the table. Not so fast.

      Maureen Cruise RN says that Pelosi’s announcement to the world that single payer is off the table was a ploy to make everyone forget about it and go for a public option instead, a public option written by and for the insurance industry, which spends over a million dollars per day lobbying Congress. The public option, as she says, is an insurance industry bailout, because with our economic downturn and the insurance industry’s annal retentive (my words) policy of raising rates to make up for losses, they are losing customers and so they look to the deep pockets of our government in the corporate welfare state we call America. But as long as we don’t have a viable health care system without the for profit insurance factor, and as long as we don’t have universal health care, people will continue to rally.

      There will be no rest in the streets of this country until we see universal health care for all. It's our table.

    • 2 years ago
  • RaceBannon
  • Daimyo
    • 0
      Daimyo  

    • One day all Americans will have coverage without the pressure from insurance companies putting limits on a persons health, and or worth. No longer will Americans be slaves to greed.

    • 2 years ago
  • ocanada
    • 0
      ocanada  

    • Three words. Fuck Harry Reid. Scaling back the bill only means one thing, scaling back coverage. Leaving 20 million uninsured Americans out in the cold now and forevermore. Our number one goal should be covering all Americans so that they never have to choose death or bankruptcy or for their family both. Our second goal should be assuring American's better healthcare outcomes and making us a healthier nation, absolutely nowhere in our priorities should be appeasing health insurers.

    • 2 years ago
  • Darevalo
    • 0
      Darevalo  

    • good news all arouond. if they could bring it down below the senate bill without taking out the public option would be awesome.

    • 2 years ago
  • JohnA
  • kivol
    • 0
      kivol  
    • JohnA:

      right now if its 1/7 of our economy like most people say, wouldn't that mean its 2 trillion dollars in our economy because we have a 14t yr GPD? Or am I doing my math wrong. Getting rid of a wasteful 1 trillion will help citizens and businesses alike. This is a plus for everyone, really its not going far enough.

    • 2 years ago
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