Sen. Snowe Helps Senate Panel Okay Health Care Bill

He said the chairman of the two committees, working with the White House, will now work "to craft a bill that can garner 60 votes in the Senate."

"We remain committed to passing legislation that lowers costs, creates competition, improves quality of care and preserves choice," he said.

Once the two Senate bills are reconciled, the measure would then have to be meshed with legislation approved by the House, which is still trying to draft a bill that can win 217 votes there. Once the Senate and House reach agreement, the adjusted bill must pass a final vote in each body and then be signed by the president.

The Senate Finance bill is estimated to cost $829 billion over 10 years. Most of the provisions would not go into effect until 2013.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Finance panel and primary architect of the legislation, said, "The bill we passed today puts patients and doctors–not insurance companies–in the driver's seat."

He added, "It modernizes our health care system to reduce waste and inefficiency and slows health care costs that stretch families, businesses and our economy to a breaking point.

"This balanced, common-sense bill begins to shave the federal deficits. The American people deserve a health care system that works for them, and this vote is a critical step toward that goal."

The bill contains a provision which says specifically that insurance agents would be allowed to sell insurance to individuals and businesses purchasing health insurance through the exchanges proposed in the legislation.

According to committee staff, the Finance legislation would allow people who like the coverage they have today the option to keep it.

It also would reform the insurance market so no one could be denied coverage or charged more because of a pre-existing health condition.

The bill would prohibit insurance companies from charging women or people who have been sick more for their coverage and would eliminate yearly and lifetime limits on the amount of coverage plans provide.

Another provision would make it illegal for insurance companies to drop coverage. There is language to protect seniors by ensuring none of their Medicare benefits are cut and giving consumers the choice of nonprofit health care co-ops.

Also included are limits on tax deductions for insurance companies that give their executives excessive salaries. The measure would create Web-based insurance exchanges that would standardize health plan premiums and coverage information to make purchasing insurance easier.

Officials of all insurance agent trade groups that have worked on the bill voiced misgivings with some of the provisions of the bill but said they would work to improve it as action on the bill continues.

Charles Symington, senior vice president of government affairs for the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America, said that "paramount to the IIABA is ensuring that consumers have real choices available in their health insurance and that agents continue to be able to advise and help consumers in these choices."

He added, "While we're pleased the committee rejected two amendments to add a public option, we remain concerned that there will be forceful efforts to add it during the merging of the Finance and HELP Committee bills and during Senate floor consideration."

Joel Kopperud, director of government relations for the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, added, "We're relieved the proposed market competitor is not a government option and that broker access was preserved, but the weakened individual mandate and taxes on the insurance industry continue to make this difficult to support.

"We're working closely with allies on and off Capitol Hill to preserve affordable employer-provided coverage," he added.

Peter Stein, vice president of Congressional Affairs for the National Association of Health Underwriters, said, "For comprehensive health reform to succeed, it must ensure that premiums are affordable for all consumers and that people are able to keep the private coverage they like."

But, he said, a number of significant changes were made to the Finance Committee bill during draft revisions that would run completely counter to these goals of reform.

He specifically cited the weakening of the individual mandate, tens of billions of dollars in new insurer fees and taxes, tight limits on age rating, and high minimum benefit levels that will make private health insurance unaffordable for many Americans.

"By some estimates these provisions combined could double premiums for the youngest third of our population coming into a reforms insurance marketplace," he added.