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While liberals, insurance companies, Republicans, unions, governors, and universal coverage fans have all come out opposed to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus's health reform bill, it does have one thing going for it: the Congressional Budget Office and Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation estimate that it will save $49 billion over the first ten years of implementation, if it were to go into effect in 2010.
The CBO and JCT released their preliminary analysis of Baucus's proposal this afternoon (based on Baucus's specifications but a full review of the document he released today). From their analysis (full document here):
Estimated Budgetary Impact of the Chairman's Proposal
According to CBO and JCT's assessment, enacting the Chairman's proposal would result in a net reduction in federal budget deficits of $49 billion over the 2010-2019 period (see Table 1). The estimate includes a projected net cost of $500 billion over 10 years for the proposed expansions in insurance coverage. That net cost itself reflects a gross total of $774 billion in credits and subsidies provided through the exchanges, increased net outlays for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and tax credits for small employers; those costs are partly offset by $215 billion in revenues from the excise tax on high-premium insurance plans and $59 billion in revenues from other sources.1 The net cost of the coverage expansions would be more than offset by the combination of other spending changes that CBO estimates would save $409 billion over the 10 years and other tax provisions that JCT and CBO estimate would increase federal revenues by $139 billion over the same period.2 In subsequent years, the collective effect of those provisions would probably be continued reductions in federal budget deficits.
Some of the ways it saves that much money are points of contention for Democrats as well as Republicans (like taxing expensive insurance plans), and many liberals would rather have a bill that spends more to bring more people into the system, but this is something that Baucus is hanging his hat on--especially the fact that $409 billion of its net $539 billion savings come from spending reductions, rather than new taxes.As health reform moves to the Senate floor for the amendment process, the $49 billion savings will likely frame the discussion of cost, at least initially, as various proposals affect the Senate package's budgetary impact.
On Wednesday the U.S. Senate released its version of the U.S. healthcare overhaul that has recently been advocated by  Barack Obama.

The  released an 18-page summary of the 223-page bill that will, according to Senate Finance Committee Chairman , cost 856 billion over 10 years.  The  estimates that the bill will cost US$774 billion over 10 years and will cover 94% of Americans.  The Senate version was orchestrated by Senator Baucus, a  from .  The bill was released without any  support from the committee.  However, today, the bill received support from a bi-partisan group of Senators including the Republican Senator from ,  and  .  If the bill's passage is determined along party lines, Democrats will need at least one Republican Senator to avoid a possible  in the Senate.

The proposal mandates nation-wide individual insurance by 2013 and omits a government-run insurance clause as is included in the U.S. House version; instead, the plan calls for non-profit healthcare cooperatives.  The healthcare cooperatives would be provided with US$6 billion in initial funding to cover start-up fees and costs. Individuals refusing to obtain coverage can be charged up to US$950 annually with families fined up to US$3,800 per year.  Small businesses will not be mandated to provide healthcare to their employees but those who do will receive tax credits. Also, insurances companies that have more expensive individual plans will be taxed for 35% of the amount that that the plan exceeds the federal individual threshold of US$8,000 or the family threshold of US$21,000. The bill includes clauses for protection against coverage suspensions due to illnesses and protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions. It will not pre-empt state laws on abortion and does not provide for abortion payments except in cases of rape or incest. The plan also mandates registration with the  as a means to avoid illegal alien use of the program.

The bill will reportedly be paid for by US$850 billion in spending reduction, taxes and fees to include reduction in  benefits.  The Senate Finance Committee is the last approval authority before the Senate or House bills can be considered for floor debate.