Hospitals Near Health Care Reform Pact

By David Espo

WASHINGTON -- With health care legislation at a crossroads, the nation's hospitals are near agreement with a key lawmaker and the White House to pick up part of the cost of President Barack Obama's plan for expanded coverage, officials said.

The precise size of any deal wasn't available, although several days ago talks were focused in the area of $155 billion over a decade. These officials said Monday that under the emerging agreement hospitals would accept lower-than-anticipated payments under Medicare and Medicaid, the federal health care programs for seniors and the poor.

Any agreement involving Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and the White House would give fresh momentum to efforts to write bipartisan legislation on an issue that Obama has placed atop his list of domestic priorities.

Obama has said he wants to sign a bill in October that would reduce medical costs and provide coverage to nearly 50 million uninsured Americans.

Baucus and the White House reached agreement with the drug companies two weeks ago for pharmaceutical firms to spend $80 billion over a decade, divided between closing a coverage gap under Medicare and defraying part of the cost of providing health care to millions who lack it.

Last week, Wal-Mart(WMT Quote), the nation's largest private employer, gave a boost to the White House when it announced support for a requirement on large firms to offer health coverage to their work force.

Several officials said no final agreement with the hospitals had been sealed. But they added that a formal announcement could come as early as Wednesday at the White House with Vice President Joseph Biden attending in place of Obama, who is overseas. The officials, who have been closely following the negotiations, spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the confidential nature of the discussions.