Senate Finance Committee Completes Amendment Process, Plans to Vote

The Senate Finance Committee has completed consideration of all amendments to the “America’s Healthy Future Act.” As part of the process, the Committee rejected two amendments that would have created a public plan option.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) has indicated that the Committee will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 6. In the meantime, Committee staff will create a summary of the bill that includes all revisions made during the two-week mark-up process, and then submit the summary to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) for a “score”—or cost analysis. The CBO’s score will include information about how the bill will impact taxes, the deficit and the potential cost of health insurance.

Chairman Baucus has indicated that once CBO releases a preliminary score, likely early next week, he will give Committee members a “reasonable time” to review the legislation before calling for a vote. Once the committee favorably reports the legislation, it must be merged with the bill that the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee adopted earlier this summer.

More information will be made available on www.asahq.org as the legislative process continues.