Health Care Bill May Be Ready For Cost Estimate This Week

NU Online News Service, Jan.18, 3:26 p.m. EST

WASHINGTON–Congressional negotiators on a health care measure have indicated that they hope to present a compromise bill sometime this week to the Congressional Budget Office for a final evaluation of its costs.

The issues expected to be hashed out in conference by a group that includes Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the Senate majority leader, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., are compromises on state-vs.-national health exchanges and the deal by labor unions and President Obama for a tax on high-priced "Cadillac" insurance plans.

According to Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., an influential negotiator, the talks on a final bill involve drafting a method for a national marketplace for insurance.

This is opposed by all insurance agent industry trade groups, who asked in a letter to Democratic leaders last week that the states be allowed to regulate health care exchanges.

"I believe they're very close on the exchange issue," said Mr. Van Hollen. "I would say that there's going to be uniformity to the exchange and a national component to the exchange."

Details are still being worked out, but it appears the exchange provision will be a hybrid between the Senate's state-based version and the House's national approach, he said.

One issue in the Cadillac plan compromise is a provision exempting
collectively bargained plans from the excise tax on high-cost insurance plans.

Under that arrangement, health care plans negotiated through collective bargaining will be exempt from the tax until 2017, a provision designed to allow both employers and employees to transition to the new system.

The compromise also raises the level at which plans would be taxed to $24,000 for a family, $8,900 for singles, exempting dental and vision costs from these amounts.

The compromise raises the thresholds for retirees 55 and older and for workers in high-risk professions, such as police and firefighters.

It also raises the tax threshold for plans in certain high-cost states as well as plans with high numbers of women and older workers that require more expensive plans, a provision aimed at allowing for more gender, age and geographic equity in health care.