First Edition: September 16, 2009

Today's biggest story -- Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus, D-Mont., will unveil his health reform proposals. Who will support it? And won't?

Transcript: Health On The Hill - September 15, 2009
NPR's Julie Rovner and KHN's Mary Agnes Carey and Eric Pianin discuss recent and upcoming activities on the Hill (Kaiser Health News).

Senate Health Bill Draws Fire On Both Sides The top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee said Tuesday that he could not support sweeping health care legislation drafted in more than three months of bipartisan negotiations by the chairman of the panel, and several liberal Democrats criticized the bill from the other side of the political spectrum (The New York Times).

No Republican Support For Senate Health Plan Senate Democrats' most concerted quest for a bipartisan compromise on healthcare collapsed Tuesday as finance committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) announced he would move ahead with his long-delayed proposals without any guarantee of Republican support (Los Angeles Times).

Baucus Bill Gets No Love From GOP Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) will release his long-awaited health care reform bill Wednesday - but without the Republican support he has sought for months (Politico).

Baucus Unveiling Health Bill Without GOP On Board Sen. Max Baucus' decision to release his long-awaited health care overhaul bill with no Republicans on board dims the chances for a bipartisan compromise on President Barack Obama's top domestic priority (The Associated Press).

Snowe Falls Away, Leaving Senate Dems Without GOP Health Support Senate Democrats are going to have to move forward on healthcare without a single Republican supporter after Sen. Olympia Snowe said Tuesday she could not back the Finance Committee's bill (The Hill).

Health Bill Puts Heat On Snowe Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe may hold the key to Barack Obama's health care agenda — and that's starting to make top Senate Republicans nervous (Politico).

Reid Confident On Eve Of Health Bill's Debut A day before delivery of the Senate's long-awaited healthcare bill, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday struck a cautiously optimistic tone for its passage and began to offer the first details on how it will be debated (The Hill).

Businesses Favor Finance Panel's Health Bill Business groups that have opposed House versions of a health bill say they are warmer toward the version emerging from Sen. Max Baucus's Finance Committee, which places less-onerous requirements on employers (The Wall Street Journal).

Obama Seeks AFL-CIO Support In Healthcare Fight President Obama pitched his healthcare plan Tuesday on a more emotional level and to a heartland, blue-collar audience (The Christian Science Monitor).

Obama Takes Heat From Other Side Of Immigrant Healthcare Debate Trying to quell a conservative uproar over his healthcare agenda, President Obama has proposed barring illegal immigrants from a possible government-arranged health insurance marketplace -- even if the immigrants pay with their own money (Los Angeles Times).

Young Adults Likely To Pay Big Share Of Reform's Cost As health-care legislation advances through Congress, the young adults who were so vital to President Obama's election are emerging as a significant beneficiary of his top domestic priority, but they are also likely to play a major role in funding any reform (The Washington Post).

Mandated Health Insurance Squeezes Those In The Middle President Barack Obama and his congressional allies have made insuring nearly all Americans a major goal of overhauling the nation's health-care system. One of their toughest challenges will be trying to cover people like Ron Norton of Worcester, Mass (The Wall Street Journal).

Many Employers To Raise Cost Of Health Benefits, Survey Finds Though Americans who already have medical coverage may be wary of change, a new survey indicates that they may be hard-pressed to escape it -- even in the absence of health-care reform (The Washington Post).

Health Insurance Premiums Jump In '09 An average family health insurance policy now costs more than some compact cars, and four in 10 companies will likely pass more of that expense on to workers, according to a closely watched survey of businesses released Tuesday (USA Today).

Health Costs To Rise Again The state's major health insurers plan to raise premiums by about 10 percent next year, prompting many employers to reduce benefits and shift additional costs to workers (The Boston Globe).

San Francisco's Universal Health Care Model The Healthy San Francisco Plan, the city's public health plan for the uninsured, has many of the elements currently under consideration in Washington, D.C. It was proposed as a stopgap measure until Congress moved ahead with universal coverage. Now, it's being heralded as a public option that works and a model for reform (NPR).

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