It's a start:
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, said Monday that he would modify his health care bill to provide more generous assistance to moderate-income Americans, to help them buy insurance.
In addition, Mr. Baucus said he would make changes to reduce the impact of a proposed tax on high-end health insurance policies....
Under Mr. Baucus’s original plan, the government would provide subsidies on a sliding scale to help people pay premiums. People with income at the poverty level ($22,050 for a family of four) would have been expected to pay 3 percent of their annual income on premiums before subsidies would begin. People with incomes of 300 percent to 400 percent of the poverty level would have been expected to pay 13 percent of their income for premiums before being eligible for subsidies.
It was not immediately clear how much Mr. Baucus would increase the proposed subsidies. He said he wanted to reduce the maximum amount that moderate-income Americans would have to pay in premiums, under the legislation, to less than 12 percent of income....
Mr. Baucus, taking steps to win the support of lawmakers before the committee votes on the legislation, said he would also raise the threshold for expensive insurance plans that would be affected by a new tax. Under his original proposal, insurers would have to pay the tax on policies with premiums exceeding $8,000 a year for individuals and $21,000 for families.
In his revised proposal, "the limits would be higher, so there is less of an impact," Mr. Baucus said, without giving details.
All this to "help smooth the way for passage" of his bill. But at least he's finally trying to appease Democrats. Other intriguing developments include Snowe's triggered public option amendment, suggesting that she and Baucus are well aware of the importance of the public option to at least two of the Dems on the committee--Rockefeller and Cantwell--who have both said they won't support a bill in committee without it.
So there are two encouraging developments leading into the beginning of mark-up tomorrow.