Dec 22, 2009
Healthcare moves forward—without the charitable deduction
Healthcare reform works through final procedural phases to passage without the funding of the charitable deduction
Senate Majority Leader Reid was successful in getting the 60 votes necessary to pass the first procedural motion to move forward debate on the Senate’s health care reform legislation - setting up a vote for final passage for Christmas Eve. If Republicans do not force the full debate on all of the procedural motions, the vote on final passage could come as early as tomorrow morning.
No other substantive amendments will be offered before final passage other than Sen. Reid’s substitute which was released this weekend. ACR is pleased to report that the charitable deduction limitation was NOT included in Sen. Reid’s substitute, and therefore will not be included in the Senate’s bill. There was a small change in Reid’s amendment to the tax-exempt hospital provision that would change the limit that charitable hospitals can charge for emergency or medically-necessary care from “lowest amount charged” to individuals with insurance to “amount generally billed.”
If the Senate is successful in passing the health care package by Thursday, the House and Senate are expected to begin negotiating their differences as part of a House and Senate conference in early January. In addition to the differences between the House and Senate bills with regard to the public option (the Senate bill does not include it), the bills vary significantly on the way to finance health care reform. We will need to continue to monitor this process closely to be sure that no new revenue provisions are added if the other large revenue raisers (i.e., AGI surtax from the House bill and the excise tax on high cost healthcare plans from the Senate bill) are cut back due to growing opposition for both. House and Senate negotiators will work to complete the health care package for the president’s signature by the State of the Union address (expected in late January or early February).