Provisions of Senate Bill Revealed, Along with CBO Scoring

Tonight Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid met with members of the Democratic caucus to share with them the details of the plan that has been crafted from the two Senate bills that passed out of committees, and to share some of the conclusions of the CBO about the bill.

The cost is projected by CBO to be $847 billion, well under President Obama's self-imposed cap of $900 billion. This will provide coverage for 94 percent of Americans, slightly less than the 96 percent of the House bill. An additional 31 million legal residents will be covered by this bill, as opposed to 36 million by the House bill. The Senate bill will reduce the federal deficit by $127 billion over ten years and reduce health care costs by $1 trillion over the same period.

The bill includes a public option with an opt-out for states. It would be funded by cuts in Medicare payments, higher Medicare payroll taxes on families earning more than $250,000, and excise taxes on some very high-end insurance policies (though Sen. Chuck Schumer says most union policies would not be included).

With regard to abortion coverage, Sen. John Kerry says that consumers would be able to purchase abortion coverage from private insurance companies in the exchange, but that companies that don't provide those services would have to be included in the exchange to provide choice. The Senate's abortion coverage is slightly more lenient than that of the House bill.

A critical vote on beginning the debate is expected by the weekend. It requires 60 votes.

You can read the AP coverage here and New York Times coverage here.