Baucus Gets a Boost

You may have heard how the CBO came through for Baucus by giving him a deficit reducing score. To be frank it may be true on paper, but that's based on getting 200 billion in taxing health plans, something Democrats and Unions adamantly oppose, additionally the savings are based on reducing fraud in the system, a constant red herring for all politicians. In reality this bill cannot pass in its current form, it has no public option and according to the CBO even the health exchange system that is being designed will have a limited impact. Basically it mandates coverage for individuals and businesses , makes insurance companies accept people with pre-existing conditions, and subsidies coverage for people who can't afford it. In affect it creates a new entitlement with services provided by heavily regulated private companies. A final aspect would be the creation of a commission with the ability to cut Medicare payments.

Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Legislation overhauling U.S. health care cleared its latest obstacle when the Congressional Budget Office said a Senate finance panel measure would reduce the budget deficit even as it insures millions more people.

The $829 billion legislation would cut the deficit by $81 billion over 10 years, with new taxes and savings more than offsetting the cost, the CBO said in a preliminary analysis yesterday. That eases one of the major concerns about the bill.

“The report is good news,” panel Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said after the release of the analysis of the measure, an amended version of a proposal he made last month. “Our balanced approach in the finance committee to health reform, I think, has paid off.”

The CBO report was critical because President Barack Obama has pledged not to sign legislation that adds to the federal budget gap. The finance committee plan would continue to reduce the deficit in the subsequent decade, the CBO said, though the nonpartisan agency said it couldn’t give precise figures.Baucus told reporters yesterday he was contacting members of his committee, the last of five congressional panels to deal with the issue, to decide on a timeline for a vote.

The panel’s legislation would require that millions of Americans purchase health coverage, impose new restrictions on insurers, and tax high-end insurance plans.

Snowe Wants Time

After the panel votes, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid can focus on merging the plan with one passed by the health panel in July. He’ll have to mollify Democrats who are divided over issues such as whether to create a government-run insurance option and how to pay for the legislation.

Maine Senator Olympia Snowe, a finance panel member and the Republican most likely to support the plan, said she wants to put off a vote until next week so she has time to examine the report. She called the agency’s conclusion on the deficit “important” while saying she still has “a lot to review.”I would rather have the comfort level of having sufficient time to analyze it over the weekend,” Snowe told reporters.

Much is being made of the fact that Democrats are happy and the GOP on the defensive. This may be the temporary case, until the House Democrats rip into this as well as their liberal allies in the Senate. Already key players such as the hospital industry are unhappy with the deal and Speaker Pelosi is still claiming there will be a Public Option. Its safe to say this is not the beginning of the end, its the end of the beginning.