Baucus Health Care $829 Billion Bill Passed with 14-9 Vote

by Amy Judd | October 13, 2009 at 11:13 am

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The Baucus Health Care Bill, worth $829 billion has been passed today by the Senate Finance Committee with a 14 - 9 vote.

Senator Olympia Snowe from Maine was the only Republican to join the 13 Democrats on the panel, which was led by Chairman Max Baucus and this is the biggest step forward for President Obama's overhaul of the US healthcare system.

The bill proposes a 10-year, $829 billion plan that requires all Americans to purchase health insurance and wants to keep medical costs low over a long period. This is designed to extend coverage to millions of Americans who currently do not have health care coverage and would expand eligibility for Medicaid, programs for the poor and enable every American household to be able to afford health insurance.

One of the issues still on the table is whether the legislation should include a government-run health plan as it currently does not.

Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), said Monday that the merger "process will hopefully only take a couple days." But he added that the blended bill would then "be carefully vetted" with all Senate Democrats and analyzed by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, steps that would push back debate in the full Senate until the week of Oct. 26.

A bill is not expected until late October and then a final bill must be forged and put through both the House and the Senate again.