Senate Unveils Consolidated Health Care Reform Bill
The U.S. Senate has consolidated two versions of health care reform bills into one piece of legislation, dubbed the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.” Released late Wednesday night, the bill is expected to cost $130 billion over the next decade, according to an analysis of the bill released by the Congressional Budget Office. However, according to the Democrats' Senate website, the legislation will also cut the deficit by $127 billion, extend coverage to more than 94 percent of Americans, and insure 31 million more of the uninsured.
As with the House version, the Bill includes a government-run insurance plan. However, the difference with the Senate Bill is that states can opt-out of the government run plan, which means that by enacting legislation, a state may elect to prohibit the government-run plan from being made available to state residents. Of course, the problem with this is that the Senate bill also includes a provision requiring individuals to purchase some form of health insurance. However, the deadline for doing so would be moved from July 1, 2013 to January 1, 2014. Individuals who fail to purchase insurance would be penalized in an amount of up to $750 per year. Subsidies will be provided to low and moderate-income families to help such families purchase insurance.
