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in 2009 there is no bigger issue

Baucus Says CBO Prices Health Bill Below $900 Billion

By GREG HITT, WSJ, Jul 29, 2009

WASHINGTON -- Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus said the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the bipartisan health bill under development in the Senate will have a 10-year price tag below $900 billion.

After a meeting Wednesday with top Republicans and Democrats on the Finance Committee, the Montana Democrat told reporters the CBO has concluded the legislation would provide health insurance coverage for 95% of Americans by 2015, two years after the health bill would take effect.

The senator said the bill would be fully paid for, and would reduce the federal budget deficit in the 10th year of the program.

The price of the bipartisan Senate bill would be substantially lower than the roughly $1 trillion bill moving through the House. The CBO assessment is the latest sign yet that the bipartisan leadership of the Finance Committee is nearing agreement on a sweeping bill to expand health coverage and contain health-care costs.