Max Baucus

Not for the faint of heart. For any of our interested readers we have posted the full text of the 1502 page Baucus health care bill that passed out of the Senate Finance Committee last week. Subject to change without notice. . .

In a 1,000-word essay posted to her Facebook fan site late Saturday, Palin said the bill put forth by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus "attempts to offset the costs this will impose on insurance companies by requiring everyone to purchase coverage, which in theory would expand the pool of paying policy holders."

"However, the maximum fine for those who refuse to purchase health insurance is $750. Even factoring in government subsidies, the cost of purchasing a plan is much more than $750," she continued.

Palin asserted that young people will choose not to buy coverage, as a result, and will opt to pay the fine instead...

WASHINGTON -- When it comes time to vote, every Democrat in the Senate -- and perhaps more than one Republican -- will support legislation overhauling the nation's health care system, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee predicted Thursday.

That assertion by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., was a notable show of confidence coming in the midst of negotiations with Majority Leader Harry Reid and White House officials to finalize legislation that can satisfy liberal Democrats without alienating moderates -- and get the 60 votes needed to advance in the 100-seat Senate.

Baucus told reporters that lawmakers have a moral obligation to repair the health care system to rein in costs and extend coverage to millions of the uninsured...

The top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee says the healthcare legislation currently working its way through the Senate will dramatically drive up healthcare costs and further increase the strain on the budgets of American families.

Now that the Senate Finance Committee has passed its version of healthcare reform, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) is working to merge it with the HELP Committee bill and get a final package to the floor in two weeks.

The ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, warns that since the HELP Committee bill contains a public health insurance option, the merged bill will contain even more government involvement in healthcare than the final Finance Committee bill...

(CNSNews.com) – The health care reform legislation outlined by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and the Senate Finance Committee includes a provision that would raise the threshold for deducting costly medical expenses from income tax returns. People who do not meet that higher threshold could see their taxes rise.

The exemption, used by cancer patients and those with other costly, chronic diseases, allows people to deduct a variety of medical expenses--those not covered by insurance--from their income taxes, if those expenses amount to 7.5 percent of their adjusted gross income.

According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), expenses such as surgeries, chemotherapy, wheelchairs, and guide dogs for the blind can be deducted, ensuring that people who need these treatments are not taxed on the income they use to pay for them...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Senate Finance Committee has put off a vote on the fifth pro-abortion health care bill until next Tuesday. News of the decision comes at a time when speculation is rampant that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will use an unrelated bill to get the pro-abortion health care package through the Senate.

The panel had been expected to vote on the Baucus bill this week, but Reid announced today that the vote would not take place until next week.

Republicans, with the exception of pro-abortion Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, will likely vote against the measure while Democrats will support it.

There is a chance pro-abortion Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and John Rockefeller, of Oregon and West Virginia, will not support the measure because they want the government-run health care option added to it. That would open the Baucus bill up to even more abortion funding...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Now that a Senate committee has rejected pro-life amendments to the Baucus heath care measure to remove the abortion funding found in it, the next battle for pro-life advocates and the next step in the Senate is a full floor debate on the pro-abortion health care bills in mid-October.

As LifeNews.com reported on Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee defeated an amendment from Sen. Orrin Hatch on a 13-10 vote that would have stripped the Baucus bill of its abortion subsidies.

The other health care bill in the Senate, the measure named for the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, also contains provisions that would result in sweeping pro-abortion mandates and government subsidies for abortions...

(CNN) -- As lawmakers huddled this summer to put together the framework for health care legislation, it quickly became evident that the battle over President Obama's top priority would be neither quick nor easy.

After months of debate and missed deadlines, the public option has emerged as the main sticking point.

From the beginning, some Democrats said they wouldn't pass a bill without a government-sponsored, public option, while other Democrats and most Republicans said they'd say no to any plan that included one.

Republicans say a public option would drive private insurers from the market and eventually bring a government takeover of the health care system....

Members of the Senate Finance Committee rejected an amendment Wednesday to strengthen anti-abortion provisions in the Senate's health care overhaul bill.

Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, whose amendment lost 13 to 10, argued before the panel that tightening is needed to prevent federal funds from being used to pay for abortion.

"I want assurances that taxpayer dollars will not be used to fund abortions," Hatch said before members of the committee.

But a host of Democratic senators were quick to blast Hatch's amendment, calling it "offensive" to women and claiming it seeks to change current law...

In a decisive vote that could forecast the demise of a proposed government health insurance plan, the Senate Finance Committee voted twice Tuesday against creating a "public option" that would compete with private companies.

The two votes marked a victory for Montana Democrat Max Baucus, the Senate Finance Committee chairman, who is hoping to push his middle-of-the-road measure through the panel by week's end. It also kept alive the possibility that at least one Republican may yet swing behind the overhaul, a key goal of both Baucus and the White House...