Debate opens in Senate on health care bill

WASHINGTON — The Senate opened debate Monday on landmark health care legislation that would extend coverage to millions of uninsured and ban onerous insurance practices, with Democrats vowing to work weekends to deliver on President Barack Obama's domestic initiative by year's end.

"There's not an issue more important than finishing this legislation," Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told his colleagues in putting them on notice for Saturday and Sunday sessions in December.

Reid said exorbitant health care costs have forced thousands of Americans into bankruptcy, creating an economic crisis that Congress must address.

However, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the $979 billion, 10-year Senate bill is too expensive for a nation struggling financially.

"The notion that we would even consider spending trillions of dollars we don't have in a way that the majority of Americans don't even want is proof that this health care bill is out of touch," McConnell said.

Coinciding with the start of debate, congressional budget experts said the bill would lower the average price of insurance premiums if it passes, although millions would face higher costs.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the legislation would raise premiums on non-group policies by an average of 10 percent to 13 percent before figuring in the federal subsidies that are designed to defray the cost. Once the government aid is included in the calculations, average premiums would be as much as 59 percent lower than is now the case.

The CBO says the bill would have a far smaller impact on the cost of small group and large group insurance.

Democrats face near unanimous Republican opposition to the health care measure — and deep divisions within their own ranks.

While majority Democrats will need 60 votes to finish, some in the party say they'll jump ship from the bill without tighter restrictions on abortion coverage. Others say they'll go unless a government plan to compete with private insurance companies gets tossed. Such concessions would enrage liberals, the party's heart and soul.

There's no clear course for Reid to steer legislation through Congress to the president's desk.