Senate Committee Begins Health Care Debate, Progress Slow

After months of attempting to find common ground on a comprehensive health care reform bill, the Senate Finance Committee began their markup of the America's Healthy Future Act this week without any initial Republican support.  The goal of Democratic leaders was to finish the markup by the end of the week and begin the process of merging the bill with the version from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. However, senators have over 500 amendments to wade through and delays in receiving a final cost estimate from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office appears to be a major hurdle in wrapping up the markup this week. Democratic leaders remain committed to passing legislation later this fall and have threatened to pass the bill without Republican support if necessary. While three House committees passed their versions of the legislation out of committee in July, Democratic leaders appear to be waiting to see how the Senate progresses on reform. AGC opposes the House version of reform. Details of the nearly $850 billion Senate Finance Committee draft are still being negotiated, but would impact many employers. The current draft would be financed by a 35 percent tax on premium plans (costing more than $8,00 for individuals, $21,000 for families), cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, and penalties on employers for employees that receive government subsidies for coverage. The legislation requires all individuals to be covered either through employers, individual plans or through a government plan. The current draft does not require employers to offer coverage, but companies with more than 50 full-time workers would have to pay fees for each employee that is eligible and receives government subsidies. The subsidies are only available to low-income individuals. The legislation also contains tax credits for small employers to go toward purchasing health insurance. The credits are similar to other bills in that they provide a limited value and too few employers will qualify. However, the threshold for the tax credits may be raised through the amendment process. Aspects of the bill that remain troubling to AGC are the failure of the legislation to address malpractice reform and the overly burdensome tax compliance changes that are unnecessary and will overwhelm many businesses.