'bipartisan' healthcare plan attacked by both sides

Centrist Democratic senators introduced their long-awaited “bipartisan” healthcare plan on Wednesday without the public option favoured by President Barack Obama or the support of a single Republican.

The $856bn 10-year bill, which was unveiled by Max Baucus, Democratic chairman of the Senate finance committee, went a long way towards meeting Republican objections after a summer of increasingly emotional conservative allegations against healthcare reform.

But Mr Baucus, who had spent months with three leading Republicans trying to hammer out a compromise, was greeted with a unanimous thumbs down. Even Olympia Snowe, the moderate Republican from Maine who seemed most likely to come out in favour, declined to show her support.

Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader, said: “This partisan proposal cuts Medicare [the programme for seniors] by nearly a half-trillion dollars, and puts massive new tax burdens on families and small businesses, to create yet another thousand-page, trillion-dollar government programme.”

Mr Baucus, whose bill is considered the most likely among the five circulating on Capitol Hill to resemble whatever might finally be enacted, was also attacked by liberal Democrats on Wednesday for diluting key elements of the bill, both by lowering the cost of the reform from the initial plan of more than $1,000bn and by junking the controversial “public option”.

Mr Baucus’s plan would extend health coverage to 30m Americans. He said: “This is a unique moment in history. Now we can finally pass legislation that will rein in healthcare costs and deliver quality, affordable care to the American people.”

The White House emphasised that the Baucus bill was not a final draft, but a “building block” that would change.

The polarised response to Wednesday’s announcement suggests that Mr Obama’s hopes of getting a bipartisan healthcare reform bill passed are almost certainly dead. Any further concessions to Republican critics would alienate already-disenchanted liberal supporters. The main question now is whether the White House pushes for the bill to be enacted under the budget reconciliation rule, which would enable its sponsors to pass the reforms with a simple majority of 51 – against the 60 needed to shut off an opposition filibuster.

Republicans say such a move would kill hopes of cross-party co-operation on other issues. Many Democrats worry it would force the bill’s sponsors to strip out non-budget related items, including the proposal to set up a  healthcare  insurance exchange and regulations that would prevent insurers from denying coverage on the basis of health, race, age and geography.