Baucus Health Plan: Highlights of Max Baucus Health Care Bill

by Scott Wu | September 16, 2009 at 09:51 am

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Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus announced his health care bill today. Senator Baucus (D-Montana) emphasized that the health care plan he proposed was "balanced". Baucus proposed that his plan will cost $856 billion over 10 years, lower than the plans that were considered. The plan will cover 30 million Americans.

Here are the highlights of Baucus health care plan proposal:

Establishment of private, nonprofit co-ops to compete with for profit insurers.
New taxes and fees on drug company laboratories, medical device manufacturers.
Illegal immigrants barred from buying coverage through newly formed "marketplace".
Banning federal funds for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or danger to mother's life.
Tax credits to lower income families. Offer subsides for families making less than 3 times federal poverty limit.
Limiting out-of-pocket health care expenses, capped at 13% of household income for middle-class Americans who miss qualifying for subsidies.
Requiring all Americans buy insurance by 2013 or face fines.

On the backdrop when he announced his plan was "lower costs", "quality care", "affordable coverage".

"This is a good bill. This is a balanced bill," said Max Baucus. He said it could pass the Senate, even though the "gang of 6" still split over the plan. After more than a year of preparation, the Senate Finance Committee chairman said he had done everything he could to reach a common ground.

Despite the effort, intense debates and criticisms surfaced from both parties:

While Mr. Obama had strongly endorsed the broad outlines of the Baucus plan in his speech to a joint session of Congress last week, the proposal does not exactly give Democrats a unifying proposal to rally around.

The more liberal Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee have harshly criticized the plan, and some — like Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia — have accused Mr. Baucus of sacrificing crucial Democratic priorities in pursuit of Republican votes.

At the same time, the three Republican negotiators who for months have worked closely with Mr. Baucus on the legislation, Senator Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming, Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, and Senator Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, have balked at signing on to the proposal so far, saying it still does not meet their demands.