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Starting in 2014, your federal tax refund may be clipped if you don’t follow the mandate to purchase health insurance.

While the IRS won’t have the power to audit people to see if they’re covered, or to impose liens or levies to collect penalties, it will be able to reduce your refund, the WSJ reports, citing remarks made yesterday by IRS Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement Steven T. Miller before the Senate Finance Committee.

Nearly 98% of bills that make it to the Senate floor for a full debate wind up passing. But that doesn’t mean that the Senate’s big health-care bill — which this weekend got the 60 votes it needed to move to the floor — is a done deal.

Wade through the CBO estimates of the House health-care bill, and you’ll notice some big projected savings for things like this:

Incorporating Productivity Improvements Into Market Basket Updates That Do Not Already Incorporate Such Improvements

In all, in fact, the CBO says there are $172.8 billion in savings (spread over 10 years) tied to these changes in “market basket updates.” We talked with Eric Hammelman, a senior manager at the D.C. analysis shop Avalere Health, to figure out what this means.

Merck yesterday became the latest company to tell the world something about its payments to doctors. Specifically, the company published this list of doctors (along with a few nurses and pharmacists) paid by the company to give speeches.

When the Pfizer-Wyeth deal was announced earlier this year, Pfizer said it would cut about 15% of the combined companies’ work-force — just under 20,000 jobs. That figure included 8,000 jobs that Pfizer had already said it planned to cut.

When we checked in with Pfizer last week, after the deal closed, a spokesman told us those cuts had already begun on the Pfizer side — but didn’t tell us how many jobs had been eliminated so far.

Any time you have a great-big bill — like, say, one to make major changes to the U.S. health-insurance system — there are going to be lots of interesting nooks and crannies, with all sorts of business implications.

One example: The health care bill that passed the Senate Finance committee last week could boost sales of drugs that are supposed to help people quit smoking, such as Pfizer’s Chantix and GlaxoSmithKline’s Zyban.

Health-care reform in the U.S. cleared a major hurdle Tuesday, with the Senate Finance Committee passing a bill with a modicum of bipartisan support. But WSJ’s Janet Adamy reports there’s still significant opposition ahead.

Go here to read the rest: Health Bill Clears Senate Finance Committee/a>

The Senate Finance Committee approves an $829 billion health-care overhaul and former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling gets his day in high court. The News Hub brings you the latest.

See more here:  PM Report: Next Front for Health-Care Battle/a>

Today’s One Big Question in the health care debate — How will Olympia Snowe vote on the Senate Finance bill? — has been answered. She’ll vote in favor.

But she made a point of noting that this doesn’t mean she’ll back the health-care overhaul legislation all the way down the line. “My vote today, is my vote today,” she said moments ago. “It doesn’t forecast what my vote will be tomorrow.”

The Senate Finance Committee is expected to pass key legislation in the U.S. health bill today. But it will be important to watch for signs of doubt among Democrats, WSJ’s Jerry Seib says. Plus, insurers begin to push back.

Original post: News Hub: Key Vote on Health Bill/a>