House Health Reform Bill Expands Coverage and Lowers Health Cost Growth, While Reducing Deficits — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

By Edwin Park, Judith Solomon, Paul N. Van de Water, Sarah Lueck and January Angeles

The comprehensive health reform legislation that House Democratic leaders unveiled on October 29 would make significant progress in three critical areas: expanding health coverage and ensuring that such coverage is affordable, slowing the growth in health care costs, and instituting essential reforms in the health insurance market.

Moreover, the bill’s cost is more than fully offset; that is, the legislation would reduce budget deficits by $104 billion over ten years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The bill’s revenues and spending reductions would grow faster than the cost of the coverage provisions, according to CBO, which estimates that the bill would modestly reduce deficits in years after 2019 as well.

Policymakers could further improve the legislation by incorporating, at some stage of the legislative process, a provision to limit the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored health insurance such as a modified version of the excise tax on high-cost plans in the Senate Finance Committee’s health reform bill. This would further reduce health care cost growth.[1]

The full House may consider the bill, which merges the three bills approved this summer by the House Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor Committees, as early as next week. The bill’s highlights include the following:
Continue Reading

Download Complete Report (9 pages)