Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who is leading the markup of Sen. Edward Kennedy's (D-Mass.) health reform bill in the ailing Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Com mittee chairman's absence, told reporters today that the legislation will likely remain in committee markup through the Fourth of July holiday.
Originally scheduled to conclude June 26, the markup has slowed as lawmakers await budget estimates from the Congressional Budget Office on a number of provisions in the bill, including an employer "pay or play" provision that would charge a fee to employers not offering health care to employees.
Because he was "unclear on what we're sending to the CBO on the public plan option," Dodd said he did not expect to see a dollar amount on a possible government-run plan from CBO any time soon. An early estimate from the bi-partisan office put the cost of Kennedy's bill at approximately $1 trillion.
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1 Comment(s)
Posted by: Anita U | June 25, 2009 2:11 PM
Both Medicare and Medicaid are perfect examples of the governments inability to run anything. Then let's look at the quality of care at the VA Hospitals and the oversite there.
Anyone who wants government run health care should call Social Security and get 1. Through and 2. the same answer twice.
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