Prominent Dems propose pay plan for health overhaul
WASHINGTON -- Two top Democrats with close ties to the White House on Monday outlined a framework for financing a $1.2 trillion health care overhaul as Congress heads into a critical month for fashioning a bill.
The proposal — which laid out options on taxes and other tough issues without making final decisions — loomed as important in part because of its backers. Former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle was President Obama's first choice to lead the Health and Human Services Department, and former White House chief of staff John Podesta led Obama's transition team last year.
The proposal, released by the liberal Center for American Progress, would raise $400 billion each over 10 years from three sources: Medicare and Medicaid savings, from new tax revenues and from modernization. The revenue options include a levy on companies that don't provide health care coverage for their workers and the taxation of some of the premiums by companies that do provide.
If a projected slowdown in health care costs wasn't reached within, for example, five years, it suggested that a bipartisan commission would be triggered to impose steps to control costs as a "fail-safe."
The plan was released as the health care debate enters a critical moment. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has signaled he plans to unveil the details of his bill this week, and the Senate health committee already has released a "draft of a draft" of its legislation. Obama is ramping up his public role in pushing for an overhaul, including an on-line town hall forum Wednesday afternoon at a community college in suburban Virginia.
The month of July looms as "the most consequential period for health reform perhaps in all of history," Daschle said. Podesta said: "This is the time real decisions are going to have to be made."
Both put the odds of the House and Senate passing a bill before the August recess as somewhat better than 50-50. They called for flexibility and compromise to reach an agreement, but neither seemed particularly optimistic about the chances of drawing significant Republican support.
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