Who Will Get Whacked Hardest to Pay for Health Overhaul?
By John Reichard, CQ HealthBeat Editor The big insurer Humana has fired the opening volley in the great battle of the health overhaul pay-fors that begins this week at the Senate Finance Committee, but the health industry may have a tough time avoiding the combination of cuts and fees that Committee Chairman Max Baucus has laid out to pay for his overhaul measure covering some 94 percent of the American people. The blueprint to be marked up starting Tuesday by the Montana Democrat particularly bears watching. It’s likely to come closer to matching any final funding plan that Congress passes than the tax-heavy approach favored by House Democrats. Both approaches would take big chunks out of Medicare payments to hospitals and insurance companies, but the House measure (HR 3200) tilts toward taxing the wealthy as a major source of funding, and lobbyists see that as a non-starter in any final agreement that gets through Congress. Of course, there’s no certainty that either the leading Hous
