WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday unveiled his long-awaited plan for expanding medical coverage to millions more Americans over the next decade, setting the stage for a historic Senate debate on a healthcare overhaul.
Reid's legislation would cost less than the healthcare bill passed by the House this month, according to senior Democratic aides, who cited a preliminary estimate by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. It would commit the federal government to about $849 billion in new spending over the next decade to expand coverage, compared with $1.05 trillion in the House bill.
Reid's bill would drive down federal deficits by an estimated $127 billion over the same period, relying on cuts in Medicare spending and on new taxes on healthcare industries, high-end "Cadillac" health plans and wealthy Americans.
The bill would cover an additional 31 million people over the next decade. That would boost the percentage of nonelderly Americans with medical insurance from 83% to 94% over the next decade -- slightly less than the 96% who would be covered by the House bill.
Reid's move capped off weeks of difficult negotiations attempting to blend two bills passed in Senate committees this year. Democratic leaders have been struggling to keep up momentum behind President Obama's push to reshape the nation's $2.5-trillion healthcare system by expanding coverage and beginning to control medical costs.
"This is our chance to end a journey that began more than 60 years ago, when President Truman said every man should have the peace of mind of having health insurance," Assistant Majority Leader Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said after Democrats met at the Capitol to discuss the bill.
But the fate of the legislation is far from certain.
Republicans, who have criticized the Democrats' initiative as a step toward government control of the healthcare system, are already planning a series of delaying tactics, including forcing the entire bill to be read aloud on the Senate floor.
"It's going to be a holy war," Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) said Wednesday evening.
Reid faces a more immediate challenge on his own side of the aisle. Democratic leaders worked throughout the day Wednesday to maintain the fragile coalition of conservative and liberal lawmakers that will be needed to advance a healthcare bill.
The first test will come when the Senate takes a procedural vote to begin debate, probably on Saturday.
