Obama, Drug Industry Announce Partial Funding of Medicare Doughnut Hole

Initially, a draft bill was expected from the committee last week. However, Congressional Budget Office questions over costs may have slowed that down; CBO had estimated on Tuesday that the costs of reform legislation may be closer to $1.6 trillion.

Baucus was pushing for the final price tag to be around $1 trillion. A draft summary that surfaced last week showed that the committee was still examining whether to create consumer governed nonprofit medical cooperatives. The committee was also reviewing how to limit the ability of workers to leave employer sponsored health plans in favor of subsidized insurance that would be offered through state exchanges. Mark-up is expected after the July 4 recess.

Meanwhile, hearings continued in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee. Mark-up for the committee had been scheduled for June 26. However, it may take longer than that.

Republicans seemed to be stepping up their resistance to the bill—criticizing Democrats for providing adequate time for reviewing the proposals related to creating insurance programs and restructuring the way providers are paid.