Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has sent his "gang of six" colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee a health overhaul proposal that would cost under $900 billion.
The proposal is the "first concrete and comprehensive proposal to come out of the bipartisan talks" in the Senate Finance Committee, Politico reports. It would "levy new fees on insurers and create a network of consumer-owned insurance cooperatives," but it does not include a public insurance option, "a major difference from bills approved by three House committees and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee."
"Another significant variance with the House bills is the absence of a mandate on employers to provide coverage. Instead, the Baucus plan includes a 'free-rider' provision in which employers would contribute to the cost of providing government subsidies for the employees who purchase coverage in a government-organized insurance marketplace known as an exchange, according to the plan circulating among senators. Baucus' plan also is expected to be less generous in terms of subsidies and coverage than those bills - which, along with the absence of the public option, is sure to rankle more liberal Democrats."
Although the plan "does not include any new taxes on alcohol or sugar," the bipartisan group is "considering a tax on insurance companies that provide expensive coverage plans. And one feature that might help satisfy the more liberal members of the committee is that insurance companies could face a separate new fee to help pay for the plan. It would be determined based on market share, and could raise $6 billion a year starting in 2010, the sources said" (Brown, 9/7).