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Reid is melding a measure passed on a party-line vote by the Senate health committee in July with an $829 billion proposal approved by the finance committee on Oct. 13 that support from a single Republican, Maine Senator Olympia Snowe. The Congressional Budget Office’s preliminary estimate of the House measure puts the cost of expanding health-insurance coverage tocheap power leveling95 percent of Americans at $871 billion, according to Pelosi’s office. The budget office estimates that 83 percent of Americans now have health insurance. That preliminary estimate is premised on doctor- reimbursement rates pegged to Medicare. The total cost will be $40 billion to $50 billion higher when the budget office includes programs that don’t provide health-insurance coverage, said Brendan Daly, a spokesman for Pelosi. Analysis Continues The cost of those programs, such as public health initiatives, are still being analyzed by the budget office, he said. Pelosi said that “the bill will be paid for over 10 years, it will reduce costs, but it will also not add a dime to the deficit” in the subsequent 10 years. Senator Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat who’s played a leading role in seeking a bipartisan compromise, said earlier this week thataion lvling Reid and White House officials are tilting in favor of a public option that would allow states to decide not to participate. It would also negotiate rates with providers, as private insurers do, instead of pegging them to lower levels paid by the Medicare government program for the elderly. “What I’m hearing is this is the direction of the conversation,” Conrad told reporters.