Senate Finance Health Reform Bill Continues to Move forward – CBO to estimate the cost

The Senate Finance Committee moved health reform to the next level Friday by completing the mark-up process and sending it to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) for a revised score. The CBO score with its vast array of assumptions will play a key role in determining the next steps for health reform. Once a preliminary CBO score is released the Senate Finance could move forward as early as next week depending on what adjustments must be made.

Why do many feel the Senate Finance proposed reforms have the best chance to pass?

• Plan does not include a public option. Senate Finance voted down two separately proposed amendments to add a public plan option this week. Given the public concerns related to a public option, the Senate Finance reforms now appear the most moderate and have some bipartisan support.
• The plan does include a popular incentive to all health plans to vary premiums and reward consumers who participate in wellness programs.
• The plan does address the looming 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule issue (which would reduce Medicare physician reimbursement by over 20% starting Jan 1st) which has bipartisan support and must be addressed this year.
• Includes bipartisan key health insurance reform changes such as prohibiting exclusions for pre-existing conditions.

However, the bill does include controversial issues such as the new Medicare Commission (known as the “Super MedPAC”). Many key issues are not addressed as part of the plan so we would expect to see a significant range of floor amendments offered.

Senator Baucus’s proposed plan appears to balance many of the most controversial issues and it looks well positioned to move forward in the coming weeks in some form. As the work of the Senate Finance Committee is merged with the efforts of the Senate HELP committee we do expect that biosimilars will be added to the Senate version of reform.

Key Questions For Next Week:

• Will the Senate Finance bill meet the President's budget related requirements?
• Will it have any bipartisan support such as Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME)?