Warner Touts Tax on ‘Cadillac’ Health Plans

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: With President Obama seeking to build momentum for his health care reform bill by getting Democratic centrists on board, talk among key senators is turning to details of how to pay for a sweeping reform package.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said on ABCNews.com's "Top Line" today that he thinks it's time to embrace a tax on high-end health care plans — though he suggested that it kick in at a higher threshold than President Obama has indicated in the past, meaning it would generate less revenue.

"We're going to try to say that if you have a ‘Cadillac' insurance plan . . . then perhaps we've got to go ahead and get rid of the tax deferment above some certain limit," said Warner, who joined other centrist Democrats for a White House meeting with the president Thursday.

Warner suggested that plans worth $40,000 a year and more be subject to taxation. At ABC's health care forum in June, the president suggested that Congress could impose a tax deduction for health care plans that might phase out starting at "$13,000 or $17,000 a year." (UPDATE: After this story posted, Sen. Warner's office contacted ABC to say the senator was using an arbitrary number, and was not reflecting Senate negotiations with that figure.)

Warner also made clear how critical the Senate Finance Committee's version of a health care bill will be — notwithstanding the four other committees that have passed bills.

"What a lot of us at least on the senators' side have been waiting for is the Senate Finance bill, where Chairman [Max] Baucus has been working with some of the Republican colleagues as well as some of the Democrats on the committee to actually, I think, put more cost constraints around health care," he said.

Warner also echoed the comments of other centrist Democrats in recognizing that whether to create a public health insurance option is an item that's subject to negotiations.

"I think the president can continue to express his support for public option, but left open the fact that there are other alternatives out there," he said.

Warner, a former Virginia governor, also said he doesn't think opposing health care reform will be a winning strategy in Virginia's gubernatorial contest, where the Republican candidate, Bob McDonnell, is seeking to tie Democrat Creigh Deeds to Obama's plans.

"I don't think so at all. Matter of fact, the Republican has been trying to federalize this race throughout the whole cycle. I'm not sure attacking health care reform, when we've got nearly a million Virginians without any kind of health care coverage, is a smart political tactic," Warner said.

Watch the full interview with Sen. Mark Warner, which included discussion on growing opposition to putting more combat troops in Afghanistan, HERE.

We also chatted with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, who agreed that all eyes are now on the Senate Finance Committee — in particular the critical cost estimates that should be produced next week by the Congressional Budget Office. "This Week" on Sunday features a discussion where all the major stakeholders in the debate are represented: HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius representing the administration; Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, from the Democratic Party's more liberal wing; centrist Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana; and Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota.