health care insurance
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, said Monday that he would modify his health care bill to provide more generous assistance to moderate-income Americans, to help them buy insurance.
In addition, Mr. Baucus said he would make changes to reduce the impact of a proposed tax on high-end health insurance policies.
Mr. Baucus, Democrat of Montana, disclosed his plans in an interview a day before the committee is to begin meeting to debate and vote on the sweeping legislation, which is intended to remake the nation’s health care system and guarantee insurance for millions of Americans.
Mr. Baucus said the changes showed that he had heard the criticism of his bill from colleagues, who asserted that many people would be required to buy insurance who could not afford it — even with federal subsidies to help defray the cost of premiums.
“Affordability — that, I think, is the primary concern,” Mr. Baucus said. “We want to make sure that if Americans have to buy insurance, it’s affordable.”
Mr. Baucus said he believed that the changes would “help smooth the way for passage” of the bill through the Finance Committee, where it has been criticized from both the left and the right.
The changes could add $28 billion to the 10-year cost of his bill, which was originally estimated at $774 billion by the Congressional Budget Office. The revised bill, though, could still meet President Obama’s stipulation that health care legislation not add to the federal budget deficit.
Under Mr. Baucus’s original plan, the government would provide subsidies on a sliding scale to help people pay premiums. People with income at the poverty level ($22,050 for a family of four) would have been expected to pay 3 percent of their annual income on premiums before subsidies would begin. People with incomes of 300 percent to 400 percent of the poverty level would have been expected to pay 13 percent of their income for premiums before being eligible for subsidies.
It was not immediately clear how much Mr. Baucus would increase the proposed subsidies. He said he wanted to reduce the maximum amount that moderate-income Americans would have to pay in premiums, under the legislation, to less than 12 percent of income.
The subsidies “will clearly be more generous,” he said. However, it was not clear if they would be as generous as those called for under bills approved in July by the Senate health committee and by three House committees.
Mr. Baucus, taking steps to win the support of lawmakers before the committee votes on the legislation, said he would also raise the threshold for expensive insurance plans that would be affected by a new tax. Under his original proposal, insurers would have to pay the tax on policies with premiums exceeding $8,000 a year for individuals and $21,000 for families.
In his revised proposal, “the limits would be higher, so there is less of an impact,” Mr. Baucus said, without giving details.
Senator Baucus said the changes reflected the fact that some people are charged high premiums because they have high-risk jobs, for example as police officers, firefighters or miners. In addition, he said he would address the concern that some health plans charge high premiums because they provide health benefits to retirees.
Senators John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia and Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, both Democrats, have repeatedly raised questions about whether the subsidies for low-income people would be adequate.
Richard J. Kirsch, the national campaign manager of Health Care for America Now, a consumer group, said: “The tax credits in the original Baucus plan were so low they would make premiums unaffordable for many moderate- and middle-income people, who could also face high out-of-pocket costs. And if they don’t pay the premiums, they might have to pay a fine.”
A similar concern was expressed by health policy experts at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal-leaning research and advocacy group often cited by Democrats in Congress.
“Subsidies in the Baucus health reform plan would fall short of what is needed for many people to afford health care,”’ the center said in a study last week.
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, said Monday that he would modify his health care bill to provide more generous assistance to moderate-income Americans, to help them buy insurance.
In addition, Mr. Baucus said he would make changes to reduce the impact of a proposed tax on high-end health insurance policies.
Mr. Baucus, Democrat of Montana, disclosed his plans in an interview a day before the committee is to begin meeting to debate and vote on the sweeping legislation, which is intended to remake the nation’s health care system and guarantee insurance for millions of Americans.
Mr. Baucus said the changes showed that he had heard the criticism of his bill from colleagues, who asserted that many people would be required to buy insurance who could not afford it — even with federal subsidies to help defray the cost of premiums.
“Affordability — that, I think, is the primary concern,” Mr. Baucus said. “We want to make sure that if Americans have to buy insurance, it’s affordable.”
Mr. Baucus said he believed that the changes would “help smooth the way for passage” of the bill through the Finance Committee, where it has been criticized from both the left and the right.
The changes could add $28 billion to the 10-year cost of his bill, which was originally estimated at $774 billion by the Congressional Budget Office. The revised bill, though, could still meet President Obama’s stipulation that health care legislation not add to the federal budget deficit.
Under Mr. Baucus’s original plan, the government would provide subsidies on a sliding scale to help people pay premiums. People with income at the poverty level ($22,050 for a family of four) would have been expected to pay 3 percent of their annual income on premiums before subsidies would begin. People with incomes of 300 percent to 400 percent of the poverty level would have been expected to pay 13 percent of their income for premiums before being eligible for subsidies.
It was not immediately clear how much Mr. Baucus would increase the proposed subsidies. He said he wanted to reduce the maximum amount that moderate-income Americans would have to pay in premiums, under the legislation, to less than 12 percent of income.
The subsidies “will clearly be more generous,” he said. However, it was not clear if they would be as generous as those called for under bills approved in July by the Senate health committee and by three House committees.
Mr. Baucus, taking steps to win the support of lawmakers before the committee votes on the legislation, said he would also raise the threshold for expensive insurance plans that would be affected by a new tax. Under his original proposal, insurers would have to pay the tax on policies with premiums exceeding $8,000 a year for individuals and $21,000 for families.
In his revised proposal, “the limits would be higher, so there is less of an impact,” Mr. Baucus said, without giving details.
Senator Baucus said the changes reflected the fact that some people are charged high premiums because they have high-risk jobs, for example as police officers, firefighters or miners. In addition, he said he would address the concern that some health plans charge high premiums because they provide health benefits to retirees.
Senators John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia and Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, both Democrats, have repeatedly raised questions about whether the subsidies for low-income people would be adequate.
Richard J. Kirsch, the national campaign manager of Health Care for America Now, a consumer group, said: “The tax credits in the original Baucus plan were so low they would make premiums unaffordable for many moderate- and middle-income people, who could also face high out-of-pocket costs. And if they don’t pay the premiums, they might have to pay a fine.”
A similar concern was expressed by health policy experts at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal-leaning research and advocacy group often cited by Democrats in Congress.
“Subsidies in the Baucus health reform plan would fall short of what is needed for many people to afford health care,”’ the center said in a study last week.
