Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) introduced his health care reform bill Sept. 16 after months of negotiating with three Democrats and three Republicans on his committee, dubbed the Gang of Six.

“This is a unique moment in history where we can finally reach an objective so many of us have sought for so long,” Baucus said in a statement.

The Finance Committee mark up is scheduled to begin Sept. 22. Considered a more moderate alternative to the health care bills produced in the House and the Senate HELP Committee, the Baucus bill eschews the public insurance option in favor of creating membership-run nonprofit cooperatives to compete with the private insurance companies. The bill contains many of the other reforms endorsed by President Obama in his speech to Congress last week, including creating a state-based exchange through which individuals and small businesses could obtain insurance; providing tax credits for lower-income individuals and small businesses to help offset the cost of premiums; and requiring that most U.S. citizens and legal residents purchase health insurance or have health coverage through their employer.

The bill got a lift late yesterday when the Congressional Budget Office scored it at $774 billion over 10 years, about $82 billion less than the committee’s original estimate. Baucus said the bill will be fully paid for without adding to the federal deficit. Among the provisions to pay for the legislation is a 35 percent tax on high-value “Cadillac” insurance plans and new fees on insurers and other industry players. It does not include any changes to the itemized deductions that individuals can claim for charitable contributions, as proposed months ago by the White House.

The unveiling of the Senate Finance Committee’s bill has prompted renewed grousing from both sides of the aisle. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the committee’s ranking member, has spent months at the bargaining table as one of the Gang of Six, but signaled this week he will not vote for the end product.

“Unfortunately, we’re operating under an artificial deadline set by the Democratic leadership and the White House,” Grassley said Sept. 15. “I’m disappointed because it looks like we’re being pushed aside by the Democratic leadership so the Senate can move forward on a bill that, up to this point, does not meet the shared goals for affordable, accessible health coverage that we set forth when this process began.”

Grassley said he still has concerns that federal funds could be used for abortions, that illegal aliens could receive subsidies to help obtain insurance, and that medical liability reform measures aren’t tough enough.

Another Republican member of the Gang of Six, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), also said he can’t support the current proposal, and echoed Grassley’s disappointment over the pace of discussions and multiple moving parts of the bill. The third Republican at the bargaining table, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), said the bill “moves in the right direction,” but “a number of issues still need to be addressed.”

Meanwhile, Baucus is hearing it from liberal Senate Democrats as well. Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV) told reporters Sept. 15 he won’t support the bill in its present form. Rockefeller has been pushing hard for a government-run public option and also opposes the excise tax on high-value health insurance plans included in the Finance bill.

Even Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) greeted the bill with a tepid statement yesterday, saying the proposal is a “good starting point,” but needs improvement before it will work for his home state of Nevada. The bill requires Nevada to increase Medicaid spending by more than 5 percent, which Reid said must be addressed before he could support it. “Let me be very clear, I will not bring a health insurance reform bill to the Senate floor that is not good for Nevada,” he said.

For more details on the Baucus bill, download an 18-page summary here.