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Baucus Framework For Senate Finance Health Care Deal

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., has circulated this document (.pdf) to five other key Democratic and Republican negotiators in a bid to reach bipartisan agreement over a $900 billion health care overhaul bill. Instead of a government-run insurance option favored by House Democrats, this version would create a network of nonprofit cooperatives.

The so-called “framework” would establish health insurance exchanges in 2010, require health plans to report the amount of money they spend on items other than health care and require insurers to cover pre-existing medical conditions, according to documents obtained today by Kaiser Health News.

Baucus is proposing tax credits to help individuals who earn up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or $66,000 for a family of four, to purchase health care coverage. In addition, individuals who earn between 300 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level would be eligible for a premium credit as a flat percent of income.