Baucus introduces his bill

by: Jay Stevens

Wed Sep 16, 2009 at 07:52:42 AM MST

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus unveiled an $856 billion health-care reform plan Wednesday that would require nearly all Americans to carry health insurance while barring insurance companies from discriminating against people based on their health status or denying coverage because of preexisting conditions.

The plan does not call for a government-run insurance option, as advocated by President Obama and most Democrats, but would set up a system of nonprofit consumer-owned cooperatives to compete with private insurers -- a provision intended to appeal to Republicans who have railed against the "public option" in recent weeks.

The bill is what's called the "Chairman's Mark," a document that conveys the intent of legislation in accessible language. (Read it for yourself!) Once it's voted on in committee & etc, the actual legislation will be written...