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Jerry Geisel

Hundreds of amendments proposed for Baucus health bill

September 21, 2009 - 11:39am


WASHINGTON—When members of the Senate Finance Committee take up health reform legislation Tuesday, they will have more to consider than just the sweeping bill proposed by the panel’s chairman, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.

As of Monday morning, nearly 600 amendments had been filed with the committee. Some of those amendments include:

  • Elimination of the tax-favored status of health savings accounts, proposed by Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va.

  • Lift to $3,000 from $2,000 the proposed cap on pretax contributions to health care flexible spending accounts, proposed by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. In addition, an amendment by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, would retain current law in which there are no legal limits on the amount of contributions that can be made to FSAs.

  • Eliminate the proposed excise tax on costly health insurance plans, proposed by Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz.. This amendment relates to a key provision in the Baucus bill under which a 35% excise tax would be imposed on employer-provided health insurance plans in which premiums exceed $8,000 a year for individual coverage and $21,000 a year for family coverage. The excise tax, which would go into effect in 2013, would be imposed on insurers and, in the case of self-funded plans, third-party claims administrators, who would almost certainly try to recoup those costs from employers.

  • Allow the federal government to offer health insurance coverage. This so-called public option proposed by Sen. Rockefeller also is part of health care reform bills passed earlier by several House committees. Sen. Rockefeller has warned that if a public option is not included in the final Finance Committee bill, he might not vote for the legislation.

    The sheer multitude of the amendments assures that it could take the Finance Committee at least two weeks before it completes action on the reform legislation.

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