House Expected to Unveil Health Care Bill Thursday
5209744Updated at 5:35 p.m. ET.
Leaders in the House of Representatives on Thursday morning will unveil the health care bill they will bring to the floor, CBS News Capitol Hill Producer Jill Jackson reports.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democratic leaders met this afternoon to finalize plans for the government-run health care plan, or "public option," and to address other outstanding issues. Yesterday, Pelosi started referring to the public option as the "consumer option."
Based on conversations with lawmakers and aides, Jackson reports, the public option will most likely negotiate its payment rates with doctors and medical providers, putting it on a level playing field with private insurers. The House health care bill is also expected to expand Medicaid to people at 150 percent of the poverty line, with federal financial assistance for states to pay for the expansion.
Lawmakers are also expected to include a surtax on on individuals with an income over $500,000 and families making more than $1 million. The bill is also expected to include a fee on medical devices that could bring in $20 billion. The surtax will be a flat 5.4 percent, rather than a scaled taxed as previously considered. According to a Democratic aide, the tax is expected to hit .3 percent of households, Jackson reports.
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The bill is also expected to include a mandate for employers to either provide affordable coverage to their employees or contribute 8 percent of their payroll cost into a health insurance exchange. Businesses with payrolls of less than $500,000 would be exempt from the mandate. Starting in 2019, employer-sponsored health insurance plans would generally be required to meet the same minimum standards as basic plans offered in the exchange.
Meanwhile, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) is insisting on having a chance to bring an amendment to the floor that makes clear abortions are not subsidized by taxpayer dollars in the health care bill. Otherwise, there are 40 Democrats, Stupak claims, concerned with the issue who will attempt to hold up the legislation, Jackson reports. Stupak said on Thursday that he continues to talk with House leadership on the issue.
House leaders want to begin debate on their bill next week.
"I'm pretty confident that we've got the right pieces in place," said Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, according to the Associated Press. "We can quibble over parts of it, but the fact is when you're taking a 60-year-old system that grew up in a rather haphazard fashion and you're trying to bring some coherence to it, these are sort of the things you have to do at the beginning of that process."