In response to staggering cost estimates for their health care overhaul proposals, Democratic Senators have whittled down the price tag of a bill introduced by Sen. Edward Kennedy, leaving intact the provision creating a government-run health insurance option and calling for an employee mandate or “play-or-pay” requirement for any business that employes 25 or more people.
Those companies would have to pay the government $750 per full-time employee or $375 for each person working part time if they opted out of providing health insurance.
Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who has taken charge of the bill for the ailing Kennedy, D-Mass., said Friday his committee aims to finish drafting the bill within two weeks.
Dodd said the bill would cost $611 billion over ten years, a drastic drop from the $1 trillion estimated last month by the Congressional Budget Office.
Dodd could not pinpoint exactly what was cut from the bill, only that he had been on the phone with staff and Senators for days in an effort to shrink the cost.
“We believe it is going to be very encouraging to people worried about cost,” Dodd said.
Under the proposal, the Department of Health and Human Services would control the government-run option and would set premiums for the insured and reimbursement rates for health care providers.
Dodd said his new proposal would cover 97 percent of the uninsured, but there is a catch. His bill first must be merged with a much different Senate bill being written by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., which includes expansion of Medicaid.
Baucus seems to be favoring the creating of an insurance cooperative, which would not be run by the government and would potentially attract some Republican support.
Dodd appears to have written off GOP backing for his bill, admitting Friday that is proposal “doesn’t achieve the bipartisanship we would have liked in the first stage.”
Dodd and Kennedy sent a letter to members of the bill’s drafting committee, stating that Obama and “a strong majority” of people favor a public option according to certain poll numbers.
“Ultimately the public option will keep insurance companies more honest,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.
