Baucus to Make Affordability Changes to Health Bill
5315673This story was updated at 5:15 p.m. ET with a correction.
Sen. Max Baucus, who unveiled a health care bill to criticism from both liberals and conservatives, is modifying the legislation to make health insurance more affordable, a source close to the discussions tells CBS News.
Numerous Democrats have expressed concern that the legislation, introduced in the Senate Finance Committee, does not do enough to make health care affordable for low-income and middle class Americans.
"It's very clear that the driving issue of this debate is affordability, particularly for middle-class folks," Finance Committee member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said, according to the Washington post. "And the Democratic caucus is very much committed to getting this issue right."
Baucus will make his changes to the bill before the full Finance Committee meets on Tuesday to debate the plan and vote on amendments to it. It is expected Baucus will present the changes at the beginning of the meeting.
As it was unveiled, the Baucus bill could leave some individuals and families spending nearly 20 percent of their income on insurance premiums, deductibles and co-payments.
Republicans have expressed concern about affordability as well.
"I'm disappointed... up to this point, [the bill] does not meet the shared goals for affordable, accessible health coverage that we set forth when this process began," Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican on the Finance Committee said in a statement when the bill was released.
Committee members will review more than 500 proposed amendments to the bill starting tomorrow.
Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly attributed Sen. Grassley's quote to Sen. Charles Schumer.
