Details on Baucus's New Mark
The only Democrats in their seats when the Senate Finance Committee reconvened after lunch to return to the markup of the body's health reform bill were Chairman Max Baucus and Jay Rockefeller. The latter had to be back on time to give his opening statement. Over the break, journalists, including me, were digging through the revised mark Baucus released today. (The new mark will still be subject to amendments, but this is the framework the committee is starting with.)
It's clear Baucus heard some of the criticisms of original version and adjusted the mark accordingly. (He didn't react to Democrats pushing for a public option. The state-based non-profit cooperatives are still the only alternative to private insurance in the bill.) But a good number of other amendments filed late last week are incorporated into the revised version. While a witness was explaining some of the changes, even Baucus felt bogged down by the details, telling her, "You don't have to go through every line. Just hit the high points." So here are some of those:
Affordability: Baucus lowers the amount low and middle-income Americans would have to contribute to insurance plans before receiving tax credits. This makes buying health insurance more affordable for some folks.
Cadillac plans: As I noted earlier, the tax on expensive health plans will not be tied directly to the Consumer Price Index. It will be indexed to the CPI plus one percent, which means fewer health care plans would be taxed. But the amount of the tax was raised from 35% to 40%.
Age bands: While insurers won't be allowed to set premiums based on health status, they will be able to charge people based on their ages. Baucus tightened the variation to a 4 to 1 ratio. This essentially means the variation between older and younger Americans is less than in his previous version of the bill, although it's still twice the variation based on age allowed in the House reform bill.
Tax penalties: Baucus lowers the maximum tax penalty from $3,800 to $1,900 for families earning more than 300 % of the federal poverty level who don't have health insurance.
Catastrophic policies: Baucus allows Americans exempted from having to buy health insurance the opportunity to purchase catastrophic insurance with high deductibles and low premiums. Before this change, such policies were only available to Americans under 25.
More money to states for Medicaid: Baucus provides more federal funding to states who enroll significantly more people in Medicaid due to expansion of the program.
Changes in fees from special interests: Baucus increased the collective annual fee assessed on private insurers from $6 billion to $6.7 billion, but eliminated $750 million in annual fees that would have been paid by clinical labs.
-
1
Kate, thanks for this. I'd highlight in bold (and not use parantheses) Baucus' silence on fellow Dems calling for the PO. This will be a sticky matter. Also. But no live-blogging? It's too bad, alas, that we can't read something like…..
.
Baucus is scratching his nose while Schumer goes on about PO.
.
Someone from the gallery is shouting AGAIN about HC costs in US twice that of rest of world. No one's listening. KT finishes her tuna salad sandwich.
.
No wait, Baucus isn't scratching his nose…he's touching it, then his ear, then his baseball cap. OIC, he's giving signals to the HC insurance lobbyists waiting by the podium. Thanks, JNS.
.
Kerry starts to speak but Bunning at once shouts, “You lie!” Kerry throws a toy boat swiftly at him. Cantwell rolls her eyes and sips a glass of water.
.
Grassley ties ethanol subsidies to insurance cos. as good for America while Stabenow, Menendez, Rockefeller, and Nelson play euchre. BILL Nelson, that is, not youknowwho from Omaha. As one of our site hotties said, don't kick the messenger.
.
We're playing rock-paper-scissors to see who answers the swamp commenters. Now Ensign says to have skin in the game …oh wait, THAT kind of skin, oh my *blushing*… never mind.
.
…actually, Kate, KT, or Jay, is live-blogging possible with the swampware the blog / three of you are using? What is actually needed to do it? Thanks!-
1.1
Don't stop! I'm captivated!
-
1.2
…now Schumer and Cantwell are trying to drive Baucus nuts. They're using the Bart and Lisa Simpson Mt. Splashmore approach to getting their way, “Can you throw in the PO? Can you throw in the PO? Can you throw in the PO?” Max is saying, “No… no…NO…NOOOO!!!!”
.
Baucus clears up a point. “Age bands” are NOT the still-original Rolling Stones and Aerosmith. KT raises her hand and asks if all remaining CCR members will reunite.
.
Baucus is embarrassed after finding out ALL insurance plans are catastrophic given loan-shark rates and denied claims / pre-existing conditions. His response is translated as, “Well, crap.”
.
Republicans squawking about taxing Cadillac plans since some of them drive Cadillacs. Infinitis are also acceptable. No Prius.
(thanks!) -
1.3
Bravo!
-
-
2
AARP and those affected will still not like the age band, especially when the House has two to one.ratio.
Last week in House hearings AARP said not to say cannot afford it. -
3
Kate Pickert:
With respect to:Baucus lowers the amount low and middle-income Americans would have to contribute to insurance plans before receiving tax credits. This makes buying health insurance more affordable for some folks.
How so? Does this mean that the 13% of income threshold at which Baucus planned on legislating premium-assistance has been lowered to 12.5%?
.
What does this mean specifically?
.
With respect to:Baucus increased the collective annual fee assessed on private insurers from $6 billion to $6.7 billion, but eliminated $750 million in annual fees that would have been paid by clinical labs.
Why? What's the ostensible rationale for doing so, and what would this switch-a-roo mean in practical terms with respect to reducing the overall cost of health care in the US? What would the likely real-word ramifications of this policy change be?
-
3.1
It will take some time for everyone, including me, to analyze all the details in the revised Baucus plan. In the meantime, here's a helpful link to a Finance Committee summary of the changes Baucus made: http://finance.senate.gov/press/Bpress/2009press/prb092209.pdf
-
3.2
Kate Pickert:
.
Thank you so very much for responding to commentary!
.
The engagement, clarification and provided link are all greatly appreciated.
.
I will now read the Finance Committee summary you've so helpfully provided... -
3.3
Kate Pickert:
.
When I wrote to ask:Does this mean that the 13% of income threshold at which Baucus planned on legislating premium-assistance has been lowered to 12.5%?
, it looks as if I was off by a half-percent.
.
From your helpfully provided link:The modified Chairman's Mark would lower the maximum amount of income
that families would contribute to their health insurance premium to two percent of income for those at 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) on a sliding scale up to 12 percent of income for those at 300 percent of poverty. Individuals between 300‐400 percent of FPL would be eligible for a premium credit based on capping an individual's share of the premium at a flat 12 percent of income.Super. Premiums that take up 12 percent of individual incomes are being legislated into existence, as opposed to capping prices paid by Medicare and Medicaid on hyper-inflationary health care products and services.
.
What does that run somebody?
.
First of all, what's "FPL"? What is the Federal Poverty Line?
.
Interestingly enough, there is no such thing, at least according to Health and Human Services. The "Federal Poverty Guidelines" for 2009 http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/09fedreg.shtml about which HHS saysThe poverty guidelines are the other version of the federal poverty measure. They are issued each year in the Federal Register by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The guidelines are a simplification of the poverty thresholds for use for administrative purposes — for instance, determining financial eligibility for certain federal programs.
have an individual at $10,830 as the poverty "guideline".
.
BTW: Do you know why the authors of the legislation decided not to be clear about the fact that they're using this HHS designation, and instead used an "FPL" that doesn't actually exist, Kate Pickert?
.
Anyway, 400% of $10,830 is $43,320. 12% of $43,320 is...$5198.40.
.
Hmm...$5198.40. out of an annual income of $43,320?
.
The Baucus Mark summary has the word "affordability" written all over it, Kate Pickert, as if it's a sales brochure for a mid-sized American car.
.
Given that somebody making $43,321 gets no help at all with their legally required insurance, even if their premium is more than $5198.40, and that $43,320 minus $5198.40 leaves our hard-working individual with a pre-tax gross pay of $38,121.60 per year, it's no wonder that Baucus' talking points stress that %12 is "more affordable" than %13 of somebody's income.
.
Perhaps you might give this context and these facts some thought prior to leading the bullet point with the idea Max Baucus wants you and I and all of the people who just skim reports like this to have in our heads ("Affordability"), Kate Pickert. Perhaps prior to writing down "Affordability" next to anything on which Max Baucus puts his name, you might want to check that description to see if it's consistent with the actual language of his proposals, and not just a talking point.
.
It seems to me that the easiest way to get a desired message out to the public about one's proposals would be to label the proposal, and then let reporters first report the label, and then search through the language of the proposal later to see if the label fits. Does it also seem that way to you, Kate Pickert?
.
Thanks so much for reading and considering this, and my gratitude again for that helpful link.
-
-
4
Welcome to Swampland, Kate. Here's my question. Why shouldn't I feel like this whole Baucus markup is anti-climactic. Is anything they do in these sessions going to assuage the animosity that both dems and repubs have for this bill. Talk about putting the "boo!" in Kabuki.
Now as Stuart, Gunny, and others have said on previous posts, could we get some serious reporting on why the frak we pay twice as much as everyone else in the industrialized world for less effective health care delivery?
-
4.1
pierogielunaire, you brightened my day with -- the "boo!" in Kabuki -- many thanks!
-
-
5
Here are some of the question marks that I forgot on my last post. ?????
-
6
Hmm, Baucus showing a little bit of guts.
.
As Republicans in the Senate steadily drift away from Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the finance committee chairman is beginning to move the opposite direction. After getting pounded by progressives for a bill that required middle-class Americans to purchase unaffordable health care from private insurance companies (as no public option would be available), Baucus revised the proposal to make the mandated coverage more affordable and reduced the cost of the penalty for not buying it.
.
At the same time, Baucus fired a shot across the bow of the insurance industry, urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to go after insurance companies who are sending letters to seniors with frightening warnings about supposed Democratic attempts to cut their benefits. (See Dawn Teo's reporting on this here.)
.
CMS responded by muzzling the insurance companies and threatening legal action, writing that "we are instructing you to immediately discontinue all such mailings to beneficiaries and to remove any related materials directed to Medicare enrollees from your websites."
.
They made clear they weren't playing around: "Please be advised that we take this matter very seriously and, based upon the findings of our investigation, will pursue compliance and enforcement actions."
.
The Wall Street Journal op-ed page hit the roof, complaining that Bacucus' "latest bullying tactics are hard to believe." And the insurance industry trade group, America's Health Insurance Plans, denounced the "gag order."
.
"Seniors have a right to know how the current reform proposals will affect the coverage they currently like and rely on," said AHIP spokesman Robert Zirkelbach.
.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) took the Senate floor Tuesday to decry the CMS move. "'Shut up,' this gag order says," McConnell said. "'Be quiet and get in line.'" Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) followed him and read the First Amendment on the Senate floor.
.
Baucus insists that the insurers have no right to mislead seniors into believing that Medicare benefits would be cut. And CMS has a say over the companies' communication with seniors, because it foots the bill.
.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/22/baucus-muzzles-misleading_n_294782.html -
7
not withstanding the vagueness of the promises that stuart pointed out, this was a good post, KP.
_
That being said -- I do have one question.
_
Kent Conrad -- Bad dye job, or bad hair piece?-
7.1
It's a toupee, isn't it?
-
-
8
Are the lies starting not to work?
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsX2HMSvZkY&hl=en&fs=1&] -
9
[...] of those amendments, including some that affect revenues and spending levels. As I explained in an earlier post, the new Baucus bill increases affordability, lowers the excise tax on Americans who don't get [...]
- TIME Why is Walmart suffering from a slump? | http://su.pr/2YFI39 - 12 hours ago
- TIME Father H's story: Germany's pedophile priest scandal | http://su.pr/1faxLm - 12 hours ago
- TIME See the pictures of the week | http://su.pr/1EBdzh - 14 hours ago
Most Popular »
- Where Things Stand On Health Care Reform
- Does Michael Lewis' Harvard Thesis Exonerate Goldman?
- The Worst of Conservative Talk Radio
- Health Care Reform: Through The Looking Glass
- Health Vote-o-Rama
- The Worst Live-Action Versions of Cartoon Classics
- KY Sen Poll: Paul Seizes Primary, General Leads
- Toy Story 3: New Toys Gallery
- 2012 Poll: PPP (D) Finds Romney Leading In Close GOP Primary
- Without A Teleprompter
- Catholic Europe: How Damaged is the Papacy?
- How Dems Got the Score They Wanted on Health Reform
- Walmart, Suffering a Rare Slump, Fights Back on Prices
- Father H's Story: Germany's Pedophile Priest Scandal
- Getting Her Way: Pelosi's Powers of Persuasion
- Deep Funk: Why Britain is Feeling Bleak
- Tea Partyers Shout N-Word at Black Congressmen
- Animal Suicide? OâBarry of Oscar Winner âCoveâ Says Yes
- In Thailand, A Little Black Magic Is Politics as Usual
- 'Whip Smart': Melissa Febos on Her NYC Dominatrix Memoir
Quotes of the Day »
RSS