Key provisions of the Senate healthcare bill ..

Below is the WSJ’s summary.

Big deals:

  • Roughly $50 billion per year each from tax increases and Medicare cuts
  • Massive expansion of Medicaid … estimated 1/2 of the newly insured
  • Roughly 10 million “young healthies” who self-insure mandated to buy insurance
  • .9% increase in Medicare taxes if over $250,000
  • Excise tax on Cadillac insurance plans (except for longshoremen)
  • $10 billion for community health centers

Ken’s Favorite: 10% tax on tanning salons

Pay-offs for votes:

  • Nebraska, Louisiana, Vermont and Massachusetts are getting more federal help with Medicaid than other states. In the case of Nebraska — represented by Sen. Ben Nelson, who’s providing the critical 60th vote for the legislation to pass — the federal government is picking up 100 percent of the tab of a planned expansion of the program, in perpetuity.
  • Florida’s beneficiaries of Medicare Advantage plans — the private managed-care plans within Medicare —  will have their benefits grandfathered in thanks to a provision tailored by Sen. Bill Nelson.
  • Longshoremen were added to the list of workers in high-risk professions who are shielded from the full impact of a proposed new tax on high-value insurance plans.

 From the WSJ: 

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http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-enlargePic07.html?project=imageShell07&bigImage=wsj_healthpol091220.gif&h=569&w=959&title=WSJ.COM&thePubDate=20080826

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