Provisions in Baucus' bill would also set up a series of initiatives to make Medicare more efficient, including incentives for hospitals to reduce readmissions and for doctors to do more to coordinate their patients' care.
And in a bid to satisfy the business community, Baucus significantly weakened requirements on employers to provide insurance. While the House bill threatened businesses with annual payrolls above $750,000 with a penalty of up to 8 percent of their payroll if they did not provide insurance, Baucus capped any penalty to $400 per worker for businesses with more than 50 employees.
Baucus' bill also places no requirement on businesses to pay a minimum percentage of the cost of their workers' premiums. The House bill requires employers to pay 72.5 percent of the insurance premium for workers with individual policies and 65 percent for workers with families.
To help pay for his bill, Baucus has proposed a series of excise tax on insurance plans worth more than $8,000 for singles and $21,000 for families, and new fees on insurers, drug makers, device makers and clinical labs.
In contrast, House Democrats rely heavily in their health care legislation on a surtax on high-income taxpayers.
The completion of Baucus' bill marks the end of one phase of a health care debate in which senior Democrats developed three proposals - one in the House and two in the Senate. Now, Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill will work to unify their party behind a final bill that could pass Congress and make it to President Barack Obama's desk.
"We worked to build a balanced, common-sense package that ensures quality, affordable coverage and doesn't add a dime to the deficit," the Montana senator said. "Now we can finally pass legislation that will rein in health care costs and deliver quality, affordable care to the American people."
Reaction at the White House to the plan was low-key Wednesday. Press secretary Robert Gibbs called it "an important building block" that brings the country closer to a comprehensive health care overhaul.
Still, Obama did his part to keep peace in the Democratic family: He met with Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., a senior member of the Finance Committee who has complained that the White House seemed to be too willing to make concessions.
After the meeting, Rockefeller said he was convinced of Obama's commitment to a strong bill, but reiterated his view that he could not support Baucus' proposal without major changes.
