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The latest version of Senate health care legislation (pdf available here) crafted by Majority Leader Harry Reid is making its rounds. There is a lot to review, but an initial read shows the bill is close to the legislation approved by the Senate Finance Committee in early October with a few notable changes: more generous subsidies, a higher threshold for the excise tax on insurers who offer high-cost plans, an increase in the Medicare payroll tax for Americans making over $250,000, and the addition of a long-term care insurance program for people with disabilities.
While this legislation also delays the implementation of insurance market reforms and subsidies (when compared to the Senate Finance legislation) there are a number of provisions that would start helping Americans immediately. In particular, the legislation:
- Provides $5 billion to enact a temporary insurance program for those who have been uninsured for several months and have a pre-existing condition. Financial assistance would be available for the purchase of such coverage until the exchanges (or new insurance marketplaces) are established.
- Prohibits insurers from selling insurance products that have lifetime or annual caps on benefits and from rescinding coverage except in the case of fraud or misrepresentation.
- Requires health insurance companies to report publicly the percentage of total premium revenue spent on patient care and quality versus administrative costs. Health insurance companies will be required to refund enrollees if costs not related to patient care exceed a certain threshold.
- Establishes small business tax credits to help small employers afford coverage for their workers starting in 2011.
- Extends dependent coverage to require all insurers to allow young adults to remain on their parents' insurance until the age of 26.
The fiscal picture of the legislation should also give moderates a lot to cheer about. CBO not only says the legislation would reduce the deficit by $130 billion over the next decade, but it also expects that:
Medicare spending under the bill would increase at an average annual rate of roughly 6 percent during the next two decades -- well below the roughly 8 percent annual growth rate of the past two decades...Adjusting for inflation, Medicare spending per beneficiary under the bill would increase at an average annual rate of roughly 2 percent during the next two decades -- much less than the roughly 4 percent annual growth rate of the past two decades.
In other words...curve benders rejoice!
