Collins open to healthcare bill

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) indicated on Wednesday that she is open to voting for healthcare reform legislation this year, according to an AP report.

Should she vote for the bill, the centrist Collins would be the second Republican senator to vote for healthcare reform legislation at some point in the process. The first was her Maine colleague, Sen. Olympia Snowe, who helped vote the Senate Finance Committee's bill out of the panel yesterday.

Collins said on Wednesday that she believes the status quo is unacceptable and is willing to vote for a reform package that reduces costs and expands coverage. But she expressed serious reservations with the Finance panel's bill saying it did not do enough to curb costs for small businesses and families and cut too much into Medicare.