The New Health Dialogue

We’re busy counting down the days to the bipartisan health care summit this Thursday, February 25th. As we’ve mentioned, the White House promised to release a final, merged health care bill before the summit. Earlier this week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius confirmed the President was on track to release a single bill, which would combine the best ideas from both the House and Senate health care bills.

We’re not sure exactly what’s in the bill, but here’s some of what we can expect to see in the President’s health care plan, courtesy of the New York Times and the LA Times:

Individual mandate. Most Americans would be required to obtain health insurance or face financial penalties.

End insurance company abuses. The plan would bar insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing medical conditions.

Subsidies to purchase insurance. The plan would give tax subsidies to help moderate-income people buy private insurance.

Excise tax. Officials said the President’s bill was expected to include a version of the Senate’s proposed tax on high-cost, employer-sponsored insurance policies. It would reflect a deal reached with labor union leaders to limit the impact of the tax on workers.

Cost and coverage. The plan is expected to cost around $900 billion and expand coverage to 30 million Americans.

Close the Medicare Part D “doughnut hole.”

No more ‘Cornhusker Kickback.’ Senior Democrats have largely agreed to eliminate a controversial provision in the Senate bill that would provide special federal aid to Nebraska to help it expand its Medicaid program, which had been included to secure the vote of that state's Democratic senator.

More changes could be on the way, but we should note the following: Democrats were already close to achieving a deal on merged legislation before the Massachusetts election. White House officials said the plan would be available online by Monday morning, 72 hours before the summit.