Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) has released a document outlining a framework for health care reform which is likely to set the stage for draft legislation for committee consideration perhaps even yet this week.

The framework lays out several key priorities and is the result of ongoing negotiations in the Senate by the “Gang of Six” (key Democratic and Republican negotiators including Iowa Senator Charles Grassley) that has been working toward a bipartisan agreement. 

One major development in the Senate’s version is that instead of a government-run public insurance option as found in the House bill, the framework rather creates a network of nonprofit cooperatives that would be charged with pooling individuals and negotiating with insurance companies and providers.

Other initiatives include the establishment of health insurance exchanges in 2010 and requiring 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.

The report is broken down into seven sections:

• Immediate Relief For Families And Small Businesses
• Ensuring Affordable Health Coverage
• Promoting Disease Prevention And Wellness
• Improving The Quality And Efficiency Of Health Care
• Transparency And Program Integrity
• Fraud, Waste, And Abuse
• Revenue Provisions

Baucus is also 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.

The Finance Committee is continuing negotiations and several concepts from the framework are expected to be included in the bill draft the committee will mark-up in the coming weeks.

Click here to read the framework document.