Congress left Washington, D.C. this week for the July Fourth recess without a deal on health care reform.  In the Senate, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) said he has developed a way to pay for the legislation that would cost less than $1 trillion.  Whew, that makes me feel better!

Baucus plans to offset the cost of health reform, in part, by taxing some employer-sponsored health benefits – something that makes the White House and many lawmakers uneasy.  President Obama adamantly opposed this idea during the campaign but has since left the door open.  Baucus' proposal would cap the tax exclusion at $17,240 for a family of four and $6,800 for an individual, which roughly represents the value of the standard insurance plan for federal employees, plus 10%.  Limiting the Finance Committee bill's spending to $1 trillion (that's $1,000 billion) is quite an achievement, given that the Senate HELP Committee's proposal is at least $1 trillion and the House "tri-committee" proposal could cost as much as $3 trillion or more.  The Senate Finance Committee is expected to release a detailed proposal (and perhaps bill language) soon.  In addition, Senator Conrad (D-N.D.) said Obama's proposal to limit tax deductions for wealthy individuals is "on the table" even though lawmakers previously had dismissed the plan.  Will the Republicans go along with all this? 

The Senate HELP Committee continued its week-long markup of their version of health reform legislation.  The panel will reconvene on 7/6 to continue their consideration of the legislation – with the goal of completing it by 7/10.  The bill still lacks language dealing with such issues as creating a public plan to provide an alternative to private insurance, requiring employers to offer coverage or pay a penalty, and providing cheaper versions of costly biotech drugs. 

Of the five House and Senate committees working on health care, Finance is the only one that appears to have a chance at a bipartisan agreement. 

One Response to “The U.S. House and Senate Recessed for July 4 before doing more Harm”

1. Dentist McAllen Says:
   July 1st, 2009 at 3:56 am

   Is there any other way to improve health care system? It is a sad thing to know that if they choose to raise tax, it would mean burden to citizens. Now that we are still experiencing global crisis and some people do not have any job, how can it be done?

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