Moreover, two Democrats, Sens. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Charles Schumer of New York, are seeking to add a public insurance option to the bill. Such a plan is favored by many liberals but was substituted with nonprofit insurance cooperatives in the bill.

The committee opened its second day of work on the bill after a clash over costs on Tuesday. Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa and other Republicans want to change the bill's mandate for individuals to have health insurance, which they say would be a burden on some people.

Baucus altered parts of the bill on Tuesday in a bid to gain support from both sides. Key changes included cutting the maximum penalty for families that don't get health insurance, to $1,900 from $3,800 a year.

Health-care economist Len Nichols of the New America Foundation said he thinks Snowe's trigger amendment may help get some other Republicans on board with the broader bill.

But at least one Republican leader criticized the idea.

“A government trigger is a government plan,” said House Republican Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia.


Senators defeated a measure by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, that he said would have protected seniors’ benefits under Medicare Advantage plans. Hatch said that unless the amendment passed, seniors wouldn’t be able to keep all their benefits — a charge Baucus denied.


McClatchy Newspapers

The last thing they want is more of their constituents telling them what is in a bill they haven't bothered reading.