Some health-care news out of Washington this afternoon:

More fees may be coming for drug and device makers, the WSJ reports. Dems may add $10 billion in fees for device makers over 10 years, on top of the roughly $20 billion already included in the House and Senate bills. The final health-care bill may also cut reimbursements or increase fees on drug makers by an additional $10 billion over 10 years, beyond the $80 billion the industry agreed to last year.

Democrats and big unions cut a deal on the proposed tax on high-end health insurance plans. Unions, some of which offer high-end benefits, don’t like that tax. But it plays a key role in the Senate bill, and President Obama has backed the tax, which he argues would slow the growth in health-care spending by pushing people toward more moderate health-insurance plans.

Under the deal, collectively bargained contracts (i.e. the kind negotiated by unions) would be exempt from the tax until 2018. The deal would also raise the threshold for the tax on all plans. The Senate bill taxed plans whose premiums were more than $8,500 a year for individuals and $23,000; under the deal, the threshold would rise to $8,900 for individuals and $24,000 for families, the WSJ said. Here’s coverage of the deal from the WSJ, New York Times and Politico.

Photo: Associated Press

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