WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Health-care stocks closed higher Thursday after Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said U.S. senators found a way to slash the price tag of a sweeping health-care reform bill to below $1 trillion over 10 years.

Health insurers and benefits providers ranked among the leading Wall Street gainers. Cigna Corp. (CI) added 5.4%, while Coventry Health Care Inc. (CVH) gained 4%, Aetna Inc. (AET) added 3.6%, Humana Inc. (HUM) moved 3.4% higher and WellPoint Inc. (WLP) rose 2.7%.

"We are much closer on the scores for a health-care reform package than we were at this point last week," said Baucus, a Montana Democrat. "I'm even more confident in our ability to move forward."

Senate lawmakers have been trying to whittle the cost of the bill down after a Congressional Budget Office analysis showed that an early version of the bill would carry a cost of $1.6 trillion. That forced negotiators to go back to the drawing board and look for more savings, since the estimate was $600 billion higher than expected.

Senate Finance Committee members said they'd found $400 billion in savings earlier this week, largely by reducing the amount of subsidies for low-income people to buy insurance, Politico reported Thursday. It's unclear where the $200 billion in additional cuts would come from, the Web site said.


But there was still no date set for a bill-drafting session. Baucus had set one for June 23 but postponed it as negotiators went back to work on cutting costs.

"We will not put out a mark until we are sure we have it right," Baucus said.

"I'll continue to work with Senator Grassley and senators on both sides of aisle to turn these options into a package that can pass the Senate and become law this year," said Baucus. Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa is the Senate Finance Committee's top Republican.

President Barack Obama wants to sign a health-care-reform bill by October and has been pushing hard for lawmakers to send him one that cuts costs and covers Americans without insurance.

Costs are key for lawmakers and the White House as they try to come up with plans.

On Wednesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius defended Obama's plans for a dramatic overhaul of the health-care system on Capitol Hill, telling lawmakers that deficit spending wasn't an option to fund the huge reform effort envisioned by the White House.

"Health reform will be paid for, and it will be deficit-neutral over 10 years," said Sebelius.