First Edition: October 8, 2009

Today's headlines reflect yesterday's big health reform news: The CBO's revised cost analysis is good news for the Baucus bill.

CBO Says Finance Bill To Cost $829 Billion Over 10 Years; Will Reduce Deficit By $81 Billion The Congressional Budget Office released its analysis of the Senate Finance Committee's health bill today, and said that, over time, the bill would lower the deficit, cost less than President Barack Obama's threshold, and would expand coverage to millions of uninsured Americans (Kaiser Health News).

Health Care Bill Gets Green Light In Cost Analysis The Senate Finance Committee legislation to revamp the health care system would provide coverage to 29 million uninsured Americans but would still pare future federal deficits by slowing the growth of spending on medical care, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday (The New York Times).

Health-Care Bill Wouldn't Raise Deficit, Report Says Congressional budget analysts gave an important political boost Wednesday to a Senate panel's health-care overhaul, projecting that the $829 billion measure would dramatically shrink the ranks of the uninsured and keep President Obama's pledge that doing so would not add "one dime" to federal budget deficits (The Washington Post).

Baucus Health Bill Projected At $829B A landmark health care bill crafted by a key Senate committee would cost less than an earlier projection and would provide insurance to 94% of Americans, an independent congressional agency said Thursday (USA Today).

New Math Boosts Health Plan The latest Senate health bill will cost $829 billion over a decade and slightly reduce the federal budget deficit, congressional budget crunchers said Wednesday, marking a major step forward for Democrats' plans to overhaul American health care (The Wall Street Journal).

Baucus Scores Big With CBO President Barack Obama's push for health care reform cleared a major hurdle Wednesday when congressional scorekeepers found that the Senate Finance Committee's bill matches key parts of Obama's wish list — cutting costs and expanding coverage, all without busting the budget (Politico).

CBO Boosts Baucus Bill With Deficit-Cutting Projections Sen. Max Baucus's (D-Mont.) healthcare reform bill took a giant step forward Wednesday as congressional scorekeepers concluded that it would extend coverage to millions of Americans while also cutting the deficit (The Hill).

Democrats Face Dilemma On Taxes to Pay For Healthcare As Democratic leaders prepare to bring healthcare legislation before the full House and Senate for votes this month, they soon must decide who will be taxed to pay for expanding coverage -- the wealthy or the insurance companies (Los Angeles Times).

GOP Points To Democrats' Concerns On Medicaid Congressional Republicans fired back Wednesday at the White House public relations campaign for health-care reform, highlighting concerns voiced by two Democratic governors about a possible expansion of Medicaid (The Washington Post).

Dole Bucks GOP Advice, Says Health Reform Needed Former Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole says a top GOP leader asked him not to publicly support health care reform. But he's doing so anyway (The Associated Press/The Washington Post).

Five Republicans That Want The GOP To Back Healthcare Reform The list of high-profile, outside-the-beltway Republicans backing an overhaul of the healthcare system is raising eyebrows (The Christian Science Monitor).

Division Fizzes Up Within GOP Over Resistance To Health Plan The scene is familiar: Republicans criticizing Washington's inaction on health care. Only now, they're blaming Republicans (USA Today).

GOPs Skeptical Of Bipartisan Health Discussions Several House Republicans questioned the motivation behind the Democrats' new effort to include the GOP in discussions on healthcare reform (The Hill).

Life And Death: Hospital Ethics Panels Help Families Decide An infant is born with no functioning brain. A teen is ravaged in a car wreck. A 90-year-old with dementia and pneumonia lies unconscious in intensive care (USA Today).

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