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CRITICAL CONDITION: The latest on the Senate bill

Contributor: Kerry Kavanaugh
Email: kkavanaugh@abcactionnews.com
Last Update: 11/20/2009 10:38 am
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) (L) and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) (R) talk to reporters during a news conference on Capitol Hill September 26, 2008 in Washington, DC (Mark Wilson, Getty Images)
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) (L) and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) (R) talk to reporters during a news conference on Capitol Hill September 26, 2008 in Washington, DC (Mark Wilson, Getty Images)
TAMPA, FL -- A melded version of the Senate health care plan has been kept behind closed doors.

Democratic Senate leaders are working to carefully craft a bill that needs to please at least 60 members of the Senate to avoid a Republican filibuster. The Democrats have 58 seats in the Senate.

Meanwhile the bill could include a couple of new taxes.

  • The first is a Medicare payroll tax for people make more than $250,000 a year. That's currently set at at 1. 45 percent of income, and that's matched by employers.

  • Another tax that came up during committee debates is the tax on high cost, or cadillac insurance plans. The Senate will have to work out what exactly constitutes a high cost plan.

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) now saying he hopes to have a finalized bill on the Senate floor this week. It all hinges on a final cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.

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