Senate, House Bills on Health Care

By The Associated Press

A comparison of the Senate and House health care bills:

SENATE

-Expands the health care coverage under the Children’s Health Insurance Program from 6.6 million mainly low-income children to 9.8 million enrollees, increasing its cost from $5 billion to an average $12 billion a year over the next five years.

-Raises federal taxes on cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products. The tax on cigarettes, currently 39 cents a pack, would rise to $1.

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HOUSE

-Expands the children’s health care insurance program to 11 million enrollees, increasing its average annual cost to $15 billion over the next five years.

-Raises federal taxes on cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products. The tax on cigarettes would rise to 84 cents a pack.

-Reduces planned payments to health maintenance organizations that offer private Medicare coverage by $157 billion over 10 years.

-Increases planned payments to doctors who treat patients under traditional Medicare by $65 billion over 10 years.

-Increases subsidies to low-income Medicare beneficiaries for health care and stand-alone prescription drug coverage by $50 billion over 10 years.