Details are still scarce, but Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND)–a powerful member of the Senate Finance Committee–seems to be walking away from the possibility of partially funding health care reform legislation by taxing employer-provided health benefits.
I’ll pass along more information as it becomes available. Many observers were expecting the Finance Committee–fairly averse to picking difficult political fights–to propose lifting the exemption on benefits as a means of building revenue for reform. If it rules out that option, there remain, at least in theory other, a number of different ways to cover the price. But many of them would likely prove more–not less–politically difficult.
