Breaking: CBO Score of Senate Bill - $849 billion.

[Clio the Leo]

Being reported on MSNBC now .... will post an article when I can find it.

94% of American covered.

Reduces number of uninsured Americans by 31 million.

Reduces defecit $127 billion over the first 10 years.

Here we go...................

[Thrill]

1. Hopefully the HELP Bill Public Option is in there

.

[jenmito]

2. I just saw that. And it will reduce the deficit by $127 billion in first 10 years...

so now Lieberman and the others have to explain why they're still against it IF they're still against it!

[depakid]

3. Looking more and more like Congress should pass the regulatory reforms

and dump the rest of this pile of crap, since it's apparent that they have no intention of solving the problems- even incrementally.

An emasculated and 3 years late "public" option is a sad joke perpetrated on the public- and will end up "showing" that public health care "doesn't work."

Better- unfortunately- to let Americans deal with a few more years of double digit premium increases, benefit contractions and bankruptcies. Once enough have had enough, they'll toss out the "Democrats" -and Republicans who continue to pander to the insurance industry parasites.

[Better Believe It]

4. A "public option" that is designed to fail. It will become a big Republican propaganda point ....

against the only system that can work for our benefit, a single payer Medicare for All health care system.

[depakid]

7. Eventually, economics will dictate something akin to the Australian system

which is single payer plus private options on basic benefits.

The present course is unsustainable on every level- and the present bill won't enough contain costs to alter the course.

There were ways to achieve most of the goals incrementally and lead to this result, but the corruption is too ingrained IN BOTH PARTIES to get it done at the moment and there's a real possibility of making matters worse overall.

If the Dem leadership had a modicum of discipline- if the administration weren't so pathologically conflict averse and conciliatory on the domestic front- if there were actually CONSEQUENCES for behaving as the Liebermann, Nelsons, Landrieu's and the blue dogs do, then the situation might be different.

Unfortunately, at present no one worries about that. They neither fear the administration- nor do they believe the "leadership" in the Senate will take any meaningful retaliatory action - and so why not take the money and thumb their noses?

[Renew Deal]

5. What about the last 6%?

[flpoljunkie]

6. TPM reports estimated $600 billion plus in savings over the second decade.

CBO: Senate Bill Costs $849 Billion, Major Deficit Reducer
Brian Beutler | November 18, 2009, 4:52PM

Democratic leadership has distributed figures from a CBO analysis of Senate health care legislation. The numbers affirm what we reported this morning--that Majority Leader Harry Reid is very pleased.

The health care bill will require $849 billion over 10 years in new spending, to be paid for with cuts to Medicare, while reducing the deficit by $127 billion.

In that time it will extend coverage to 31 million Americans--94 percent of citizens will be covered.

Over the second 10 years, CBO projects even greater cost savings--over $600 billion, with the caveat that after 10 years, their analyses are highly uncertain.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/cbo-senate-bill-costs-849-billion-major-deficit-reducer.php?ref=fpa

[Hekate]

8. Kick and Rec

[Clio the Leo]

9. Article.....

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29679.html

[flpoljunkie]

10. More details, including the thresholds for insurance policies subject to the excise tax.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad was mobbed by reporters when he left the caucus meetings and he didn't disappoint. Conrad said the bill does not allow illegal immigrants to get benefits and prohibits taxpayer funding of abortion.

"It extends the Hyde amendment to these programs so the status quo is maintained," he said.

Unlike the House bill, there's no surtax on the wealthy, but it does include a Medicare payroll tax of 1.95 percent on couples who earn more than $250,000 annually. The threshold for the high-end insurance tax was bumped up to apply to plans that cost more than $23,000 annually for families and $8,500 for individuals. That's an increase from $21,000 and $8,000 respectively.

The reimbursement rates for the public plan will not be tied to Medicare, and co-ops, Conrad's brainchild, will still be offered. And finally, the bill will include the CLASS Act, a long-term insurance program for the disabled, but will not use the revenue from the program to help pay for the bill, a move that should assuage moderates' fiscal concerns.

"Sen Reid did an extraordinarily good job," Conrad said.

http://www.politico.com/livepulse/1109/Conrad_has_your_details.html