Barrasso: Baucus bill loaded with budget 'gimmicks'

The provisions in Sen. Max Baucus' (D-Mont.) healthcare proposal that make the bill deficit neutral are merely budget "gimmicks," one lawmaker said Monday.

"They're going to collect taxes for 10 years, and only give services for six. That's the gimmick they're using to do this budgetary thing where they say they can pay for it in 10 years," Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) told MSNBC today, adding that the Baucus bill's changes to Medicaid also place an undue cost burden on states.

"It adds more money to the system, but I dont think it actually reforms healthcare," he said.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have taken aim at a number of the cost-cutting provisions in the Baucus reform bill. Most unpopular seem to be the proposed taxes on medical device manufacturers and high-cost insurance plans, which lawmakers insist the companies themselves will quickly pass on to their consumers.

Obama dismissed those arguments during numerous interviews on last week's Sunday talk shows. But Barrasso on Monday said it was still unclear what, exactly, the president thought about the reform process, as his nebulous guidelines hardly coincide with any of the plans pending congressional action.

"There's a huge roadblock ahead... the president is popular, but his plan is not," Barrasso said. "The guidelines he set out don't really apply to the House bill, they don't apply to the Baucus bill, they don't apply to what came through the HELP committee."