Need for cost data slows healthcare overhaul

Senate leaders are working against a tightening calendar in tackling how to provide every American with health-insurance coverage and how to pay for it. Senate Finance Committee leaders want to have bipartisan legislation drafted by June that would remake the nation's healthcare system. But it is taking longer than expected to figure out how much each change will cost, or save, the government. Lawmakers must rely on estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. Douglas Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office, confirmed that the estimates are taking longer than lawmakers would like.