On July 2, 2009, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee announced that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has rescored the Affordable Health Choices Act (Act).
According to Senator Christopher Dodd's news release, the CBO now estimates that the Act would cost $611.4 billion over 10 years (2010-2019). In June 2009, the CBO scored an earlier draft of the Act and estimated that it would cost $1 trillion over the same time period (and only cause a net decrease in the number of uninsured of about 16 million).
In the news release, Senator Dodd also reports that, when the Act is combined with expected Senate Finance Committee legislation, 97 percent of Americans will have coverage. However, at this time, it is not clear whether combining the 2 pieces of legislation would dramatically increase the cost of health care reform.
In its current form, the Act includes a public insurance option called the Community Health Insurance Option, which would be run by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). A summary of the public plan indicates that HHS would negotiate payment rates and payment rates would be no more than the local average private rates (but could be less). Health care providers would have the choice of participating in the public option.
According to a separate summary, the Act also includes penalties for employers (with 25 or more employees) if they do not offer adequate coverage to their full-time and part-time workers. For full-time workers, an annual fee of $750 would be assessed for each uncovered employee. For part-time workers, an annual fee of $375 would be assessed for each uncovered employee. Further, employers would have to contribute at least 60 percent to the cost of monthly premiums to avoid the assessment.
In a statement, President Obama praised the Act and stated that "[w]hen merged with the Senate Finance Committee's companion pieces, the Senate will be prepared to vote for health reform legislation that does not add to the deficit, reduces health care costs and covers 97% of Americans."
For more information, see Senator Dodd's news release, Act's text, public insurance option summary, employer responsibility summary, and the CBO score document.
