House Democrats Move Ahead With Overhaul Bill, Public Option

Today is the day House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is set to unveil the Democrats' unified bill to overhaul health care.

What's in the proposal, which melds the work of three different House committees over the summer? Some form of public option and an expansion of Medicaid for the working poor, allowing people making up to 150 percent of the poverty level to qualify for it, the Washington Post reports.

How much will it cost? The Post writes the House legislation would run up a tab just shy of $900 billion over a decade. It's not expected to add to the federal budget deficit over at least 20 years thanks to some Medicare cuts and new taxes, for what that's worth.

NPR's Julie Rovner says the biggest issue for House Democrats wrangling votes is the flavor of public option to include.

 

Liberals, including Pelosi, wanted one that set rates paid to doctors and hospitals in line with the federal Medicare program. Rural health providers, and their representatives, generally oppose that approach because Medicare pays less in rural areas.

But moderates want a public plan that negotiates rates with doctors, hospitals and other health providers, and Rovner says that's the approach that's likely to prevail.

Some other interesting details, as reported by the New York Times, are that the plan would expand insurance coverage 35 million or 36 million people. The proposal would still hit the rich with taxes, but more would be spared because the thresholds have been raised.

The new tax would apply to married couples with adjusted gross incomes greater than $1 million a year and individuals over $500,000, the Times reports. The previous proposal put the thresholds at $280,000 for individuals and $350,000 for couples.