President pivots on taxing benefits

President Obama told Democratic senators that he is willing to consider taxing employer-sponsored health benefits to help pay for a broad expansion of coverage. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said Obama expressed a willingness to consider changing the existing tax exclusion. The decision would probably anger liberal supporters such as labor unions, but such a tax change would raise enormous sums of money to help with the estimated $1.2 trillion needed to pay for healthcare reform over the next decade.