Senate Finance Committee begins "painful" mark-up phase

Yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee began the mark-up phase on their bill, entitled "America's Healthy Future Act of 2009." The "mark-up phase" is a procedural process the Senate goes through to review and revise a piece of potential legislation. We say "painful" because negotiations began with over 500 proposed amendents from conservative, moderate and liberal members of the Senate Finance Committee. Each potential amendment must be discussed and voted on. One can only imagine how much caffeine it will take to endure the mark-up phase of this particular bill.

One component being discussed is the requirement that all individuals obtain medical insurance. The original bill provided a premium subsidy to help lower-income individuals comply with this mandate. Originally, the subsidies were designed to cap insurance premium costs on a sliding scale from 3% of household income, for those at 100% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), to a maximum of 13% of household income for a family earning 300% of FPL

To satisfy the concern that this would still create a significant cost burden for middle-America, the proposal was modified and expanded. The new proposal would lower the minimum cap to 2% of household income for those at 100% of FPL, and allow families earning up to 400% of FPL to participate in the subsidy. Essentially, a family of four earning $88,200 could still qualify for a minimal subsidy. Although Baucus' bill was the least expensive alternative to the bills proposed thus far in the House and Senate, it appears likely that the $850 billion cost estimate will change as the mark-up phase continues over the next few weeks.

To illustrate how the subsidies will work and to see which income levels will qualify, click on the calculator below from the Kaiser Family Foundation website. Plug in various income levels, ages and family vs. individual coverage status to create different scenarios. Pay particular attention to the increase in subsidy amounts available to different age groups and income categories.


http://healthreform.kff.org/Subsidycalculator.aspx