Health Care Reform Legislation Introduced by Senate Committee
This morning Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) released a health care reform proposal, offering a peek at the pending legislation to come. Dubbed "America's Healthy Future Act of 2009", the proposal is published in the form of a "Chairman's Mark." This is intended to provide a more informal overview of the nation's current health care problems and how to fix them, instead of releasing actual legislative text.
Importantly, the "Chairman's Mark" does not provide for a government-run health plan (other than existing plans such as Medicare, Medicaid, etc.). The proposal does require individuals to purchase insurance coverage, establishes state health insurance exchanges, provides for a tax refund to help individuals and families to purchase such coverage, and contains eligibility requirements (in order to prevent illegal immigrants from accessing state exchanges).
Debate on the full committee is expected to start September 22, 2009. The 23-member Senate Finance Committee consists of 13 Democrats and 10 Republicans. The Health Care Lawyer Blog will continue to monitor such debates and provide a more complete overview of the proposal in the near future.
