WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Senate health care bill will cost $849 billion over the next 10 years and extend coverage to 94 percent of Americans, Senate leadership sources said today.
Update: Sen. Al Franken called the report “promising.” “Obviously he’s going to need to consider the whole package and how much relief it will bring to Minnesotans,” said Franken spokesperson Jess McIntosh, adding that the state’s junior senator is generally “very much in favor of health care reform and the public option.”
The figures come from a Congressional Budget Office report that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will present to Senate Democrats today. The bill would cut the deficit by $127 billion over the next 10 years, and by $650 billion in the ten years after that. The CBO estimated that the bill would save $1 trillion over time.
The bill is scheduled to be filed later today, with a vote to bring the bill to the floor expected as early as Saturday.
