Senate health care bill estimated to cost $829 billion, cover 94 percent of Americans

Senate health care bill to cost $829 billion

WASHINGTON — Health care legislation drafted by a key Senate committee would expand coverage to 94 percent of the eligible population at a 10-year cost of $829 billion, congressional budget experts said Wednesday in a preliminary estimate.

The Congressional Budget Office added that the measure would reduce federal deficits by $81 billion over a decade and probably lead to “continued reductions in federal budget deficits” in the years beyond.

The report paves the way for the Senate Finance Committee to vote as early as Friday on the legislation, which is largely in line with President Barack Obama’s call for the most sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health care system in a half-century.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the committee chairman and principal architect of the measure, hailed the budget report.

“This legislation, I believe, is a smart investment on our federal balance sheet. It’s an even smarter investment for American families, businesses and our economy,” he said on the Senate floor.

The committee Baucus chairs is the fifth and last of the congressional panels to debate health care. The Senate Finance version has a decided middle-of-the-road flavor, shunning any provision for the government to sell insurance in competition with private industry. Nor does it require businesses to offer coverage to their workers, although large firms that do not would be required to offset the cost of any government subsidies going to those employees.

The measure would require that millions of Americans purchase private insurance for the first time, and would set up a new marketplace where policies would be available.