WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate Health Committee is set to start
work on a health-care bill today.
Cost estimates for President Barack Obama's plan to overhaul the
system are coming in at more than $1 trillion. The eye-popping
figures are forcing majority Democrats to scale back their plans to
subsidize coverage for the uninsured.
There are still big holes to be filled on the most controversial
issues in the bill, including a new public insurance plan to
compete with the private market, and whether employers must provide
health care for their workers.
The bill is being authored by the committee chairman, Sen.
Edward Kennedy. But negotiators got a jolt Monday when the
Congressional Budget Office produced an analysis pricing it at a
trillion dollars over 10 years. At the same time, the report said
the plan would still leave 37 million people uninsured.