Sen. Max Baucus (D., Mont.), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, has released an 18-page memo (h/t Politico) to the ‘Gang of Six’ legislators attempting today to cobble a bipartisan health-care reform bill. Already, CNN reports, the Baucus proposal is drawing criticism from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) a crucial member of the gang.

From Politico:

Most of the details have already been reported, but the proposals include non-profit insurance co-ops, an individual mandate for purchasing health insurance and an new fees on insurance companies to finance the plan.
The group meets at 2:30 p.m. in Baucus’s office. Everybody will be watching for reaction from Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who have yet indicate whether they will continue with the talks or walk.
The chatter on K Street and the Hill is that Baucus wants to move to a markup as soon as possible — maybe the week of Sept. 21.

From The Hill:

Unlike the other pending bills, however, Baucus’s proposal does not include a government-run public option insurance program that would compete with private insurance companies in the individual and small-business market. Instead, the measure would establish federally chartered, not-for-profit, member-owned healthcare cooperatives as an alternative to traditional private insurers.
The bill would require new federal spending of about $900 billion over 10 years, a few hundred billion dollars less than the other measures, partly because of less generous subsidies for insurance. Baucus would fully pay for his measure, in part by levying an excise tax on health insurance companies when they sell high-cost insurance plans. Not-for-profit hospitals, drug companies, medical device manufacturers, health insurers and clinical laboratories would be assessed new fees. In addition, the proposal would raise money by limiting the tax advantages for health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts.
The document, which is the first summary ever issued by Baucus’s office of the legislation he and his “gang of six” bipartisan negotiators have been developing for months, closely matches a verbal description Baucus offered in July before the Senate recessed for the summer.
Baucus has been working on the bill with Finance Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Democratic Sens. Jeff Bingaman (N.M.) and Kent Conrad (N.D.) and GOP Sens. Mike Enzi (Wyo.) and Olympia Snowe (Maine).
Baucus will meet with the “gang” Tuesday afternoon to apply pressure on them to accept the framework. If they do not, Democrats are expected to go it alone on healthcare reform, though the White House has been heavily courting Snowe.