Baucus bill doesn't bend cost curve enough, experts say

Kaiser Health News reports that "President Barack Obama and his congressional allies such as Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus have repeatedly vowed to 'bend the curve' on health care costs, and Baucus' new bill makes good on some of those promises." But, according to many health care experts and budget hawks, "the legislation doesn't go far enough in taming long-term costs in the nation's $2.5 trillion health care system. And they worry that the cost-control measures included in the bill might get watered down or eliminated as the congressional debate continues" (Carey and Pianin, 9/23).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.