HEALTH CARE:




-- SCOOP -- WashPost 'Capitol Briefing,' 'CBO Estimates House Health Bill at $905B or Less,' by Lori Montgomery: 'Congressional budget analysts have given House leaders cost estimates for two competing versions of their plan to overhaul the health-care system, concluding that one comes within striking distance of the $900 billion limit set by President Obama and the other falls below it. House leaders have been working to lower the cost of the $1.2 trillion health-care package they offered in July. The report from the Congressional Budget Office, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, puts the cost of one plan at $859 billion over the next decade and the other at $905 billion. The cheaper version would rely heavily on a more dramatic expansion of Medicaid, the government health plan for the poor that is funded partly by the states -- meaning already-strapped governors would have to pick up more of the cost of reform.'

--THE PUBLIC OPTION LIVES, Patrick O'Connor and Carrie Budoff Brown report on p. 1: 'The forces in favor of a public health insurance option roared back Thursday on Capitol Hill after weeks when their cause looked bleak. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) looked closer than ever to including a robust U.S. government-run insurance program in the House bill - saying recent attempts by the health insurance industry to undercut reform prove insurers can't be trusted. And in the Senate, a weekly policy lunch turned into a heated debate when liberals went after the Senate Finance Committee bill and made clear they won't roll over for legislation that doesn't include a public option. Reflecting deep divides within the caucus, the Senate luncheon turned tense, with voices elevated and senators venting. 'In today's lunch, it even involved a little performance theater,' Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) said, describing it as an 'emotional catharsis.'

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Senator Tries to Allay Fears on Health Overhaul

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Senator Tries to Allay Fears on Health Overhaul

By ROBERT PEAR

Published: September 23, 2009

WASHINGTON — Senator Bill Nelson of Florida desperately wants to expand health insurance coverage because one in five Floridians is uninsured. As a former state insurance commissioner, he wants to crack down on insurers. And as a member of the Senate Finance Committee, he can shape legislation to achieve both goals.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/health/policy/24medicare.html?th&emc=th

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Maybe an individual mandate is a tax cut

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OF INTEREST . . .

George Stephanopoulos tried to argue today that by requiring all Americans to get health insurance, President Obama was imposing a tax increase on those Americans who don't have insurance - because he's requiring them to pay money for something (an odd argument, since by that definition, shopping for food, or buying a CD, is a tax increase).

OF NOTE . . . . . . .

But in any case, if one wants to argue that making someone pay a monthly fee for insurance is a tax increase, then lowering the monthly premiums for the rest of us - which supposedly Obama's plan is going to do - would be a tax cut for the rest of us. And considering more of us are insured than uninsured, that would mean most of the country would be getting a pretty large tax cut. So there.

OF COURSE . . . .

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