House Democrats push scaled-back tax and other fixes to lure oppositionIn their attempt to pass a sweeping health care overhaul this weekend,
TarpsHouse Democrats are pushing a package of legislative fixes to lure undecided or opposed members of their party to the "yes" category.
Proposed changes to the Senate-passed health care bill include a scaled-back tax on high-cost health insurance plans – a provision that is widely unpopular with House Democrats –
Casual productand more money to help states pay for an expansion of Medicaid, the state-federal health program for the poor and disabled. The new measure, called a reconciliation bill, also would take additional steps to close a gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage and to help low- and middle-income Americans purchase health insurance through new insurance exchanges.
If approved by the House, which is scheduled to vote Sunday, the package would be considered in the Senate under a process that would require just 51 votes for passage rather than the 60-vote threshold to break a filibuster. President Barack Obama has postponed a scheduled trip to Asia to be in town to help persuade wavering Democrats to vote for the bill.
A preliminary estimate from the Congressional Budget Office Thursday concluded that the compromise bill would reduce the deficit by $138 billion over the next decade,
Tarpsa finding that may help House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,
Casual productand her leadership team fight charges from Republicans who say the bill is too big, too expensive and would disrupt the current health care system.
Here are some of the major changes the reconciliation proposal would make to the Senate-passed bill:
Heftier subsidies: Compared to the Senate legislation, the reconciliation bill would provide more generous subsidies to low- and moderate-income Americans to help them
buy health coverage.
The “Maserati” tax: The levy on high-cost insurance plans is scaled back and delayed,
Casual productrendering it more a "Maserati" than a "Cadillac" tax. It would apply only to the portion of plans costing more than $10,200 a year for individuals, up from $8,500, and $27,500 for families, up from $23,000. The tax wouldn't kick in until 2018,
Tarpsreducing the projected revenue to the government by 80 percent.
