WASHINGTON
The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee told colleagues yesterday that he would soon present them with a detailed proposal for overhauling health care in an effort to force either an agreement or an acknowledgment that further bipartisan negotiations would be futile.
The chairman, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., signaled his intentions in a telephone conference call with five other committee members who have been struggling for months to forge a bipartisan bill and break a partisan stalemate in Congress, an official familiar with the call said.
The official said that Baucus had told the group that he would circulate a detailed proposal as early as today. In doing so, he would be taking a big step toward forcing a final decision by the group as to whether it sees any realistic prospect of a deal.
Many of the ideas expected to be included in the Baucus plan have been aired for weeks among the negotiators and by other legislators. But if Baucus follows through, it would be the first time he had assembled a complete package, an indication of the pressure he is under to produce an agreement.
Plans by President Obama to speak to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday in an effort to bolster support for a health-care overhaul also appear to have added new urgency to the negotiations.
Aides warned that details of the Baucus plan could change, but the fundamentals are set. Those knowledgeable about the proposal say it would require most Americans to have health insurance, which they could get from employers or from local insurance exchanges.
Employers who did not provide coverage would have to help pay the cost for many of their low-income workers -- those who qualify for federal subsidies to buy insurance on their own.
Under the proposal, Medicaid would be expanded to cover anyone with income less than 133 percent of the poverty level ($29,327 for a family of four). Subsidies, as tax credits, would extend to people with incomes up to 300 percent of the poverty level ($66,150).
States would be required to pay some of the new Medicaid costs.
Senate aides said that the 10-year cost of Baucus' proposal would be less than $900 billion. Republicans prefer a price tag closer to $700 billion.
The Republicans are also pushing for an explicit prohibition, which Democrats oppose, on the use of federal money to subsidize insurance that covers abortion.
Under the proposal, Congress would define a minimum package of benefits that must be provided by insurance companies, and federal officials would later fill in the details.
Two members of the group of six, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine, have been pushing for a more generous package of benefits, with a higher "actuarial value." The other Republicans have been pushing for a package that would be more affordable to consumers.
To help finance the legislation, Baucus is expected to propose the new tax on insurance companies selling policies with premiums far exceeding the national average, about $13,000 a year for family coverage.
Senators hope to raise perhaps $200 billion over 10 years from this tax. Equally important, they hope it will slow the growth of health spending by making employers and consumers more cost-conscious.
The Baucus proposal would also set up consumer-owned nonprofit cooperatives to sell insurance, as proposed by another member of the group, Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D. The co-ops would compete with private insurers.
Baucus would prohibit insurers from denying coverage or charging higher premiums because of a person's medical history or current condition.
The White House is anxiously awaiting the outcome of efforts by Baucus' group. He has said he hopes to reach an agreement by Sept. 15.
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