Baucus & Co to Meet Obama for Health Care Talk

Barack Obama will meet with all six key negotiators on the Senate Finance Committee today at the White House to discuss the effort to draft a compromise bill that could win some GOP support, the New York Times reports. It’s the first time he’s met with the six—three Republicans and three Democrats—and the move reinforces his recent statements that he's still looking for a compromise plan with bipartisan appeal.

The committee is narrowing in on a deal that would shave $100 billion off health care reform’s presumed $1 trillion price tag, in part by taxing high-end insurance plans. The bill would cover an estimated 94% of Americans, crackdown on insurers and contain cost-control mechanisms, but leaves out the public insurance option Obama has championed.
(More health care reform stories.)