newsroom." a $856 billion health care reform plan emerges in the senate this morning. republicans don't like it and even pushback from democrats. late developments in the murder of yale grad student annie le. the fda green lights new swine flu vaccines. china says it is ready to begin mass inoculations against h1n1. good morning. i'm tony harris and you are in the "cnn newsroom." after so many months and so many pitched battles over health care, finally today we have an actual proposal to debate from senate finance committee chairman max baucus. it's posted -- it posted an hour ago online. 220 pages in all. we've dissecting it for you. brianna keilar, what are you learning? >> reporter: the price tag $856

billion according to senator max baucus who put this out. that's on the more than $100 billion less than any of the other bills that we have seen in congress at this point. also, the main -- i guess the main point of this proposal is that health care cooperative, the nonprofit health care cooperative, this is an alternative to that government run insurance plan. the so-called public option and of all of the plans congress is looking over right now this is the only one that doesn't have that public option. also, i want to talk about a couple flash point topics. there were some sticking points in the last few days that republicans in so-called gang of six on senate finance committee had concerns about and we're trying to find a resolution to even though they are not yet on board with this plan. there is some language in the summary about that. for instance, no federal funds for abortions.

there will be no mandate for private insurers to cover abortion beyond right now what is considered acceptable by law. federal funds, for instance, for abortion in the case of incest, rape and if a mother's life is in danger. no money for illegal immigrants. it talks about verifying whether someone is a legal immigrant through the social security administration also through the department of homeland security and then the topic of medical malpractice. this is interesting, tony. this is something that matters a lot to republicans. president obama brought this up in his speech. republicans say that a lot of threat of lawsuits prompts a lot of doctors to practice defensive medicine and that drives the cost up. what this summary includes is something that says it's the sense of the senate, the states need to do something to look for an alternative to litigation but that's just a sense of the senate saying we should move in this direction but there's

really nothing like a cap on those lawsuits in here. >> got you. let's make this point as clear as possible here. crystal clear if we can. we're really talking about a summary. an extended proposal. this is not a bill we're talking about just yet. >> it's not bill language. we don't want to downplay how essential this detailed summary of senator baucus is. even though it is not that legislative gook, this is the committee that doesn't put everything into that legislative gook. committee members that will proposal changes here, the amendments they'll start amending on and proposing on tuesday, they'll do it based on this 223-page very detailed summary and then in the end when they come to a resolution with changes they made, that's when it goes into complicated language. it would be very hard to understand it any other way. >> while this is a very detailed

blueprint, we should add that work continues and that very committee will work through the nuts and bolts of this, correct? >> reporter: that's right. you'll see as we speak offices especially offices of members on the senate finance committee, they printed this out. they're looking at this. now that they have something in their hand, they can make proposals next week when we go through a markup. going through the bill line by line and proposing changes. >> that's what i'm talking about. all right brianna keilar on capitol hill for us. appreciate it. thank you. here's how we are dissecting the baucus summary. we brought together a panel to break down the proposal including a man who has had his say in helping to craft the plan. kenneth thorpe will be here. our congressional correspondents are reading through the 200 plus page plan. josh levs will pop up throughout the next two hours to tell you specifically what's in it.

amy will offer analysis on the plan's cost coverage and choice. we also want you to know exactly what is in the proposal. that's our focus over the next couple of hours right here in the "cnn newsroom." we're also bringing you the news conference from senator max baucus live in the newsroom. the finance chairman set to discuss his plan at 12:45 eastern time. that's 9:45 pacific. turning to other stories you're interested in. congress rebukes joe wilson for calling president obama a liar and former president carter labeled wilson a racist saying last week's outburst was based in racist politics. mr. carter then took it one step further saying that racism fuels much of the opposition to president obama. have a listen. >> racism still exists. i think it bubbled up to the

surface because of a belief among many white people, not just in the south but around the country, that african-americans are not qualified to lead this great country. >> the republican national convention issued a statement about an hour ago slamming the former president chairman michael steele says -- we want to hear from you on this. do you agree with -- it's a simple question here. former president carter, do you agree with michael steele? pretty clear cut. send me your thoughts. cnn.com/tony. vice president joe biden meeting with top iraqi officials in baghdad today. he's hoping to smooth political differences as the u.s. military moves ahead with plans to pull troops out of the country by next year. hours after biden arrived yesterday, there was an attack on baghdad's green zone that

killed two people. new developments in the murder of yale graduate student annie le. police picked unand released a man that works in a laboratory where annie's body was found. we're told he submitted to dna testing and the investigation remains open. >> we're also making sure that there's not other potential suspects so we're avoiding the issue of tunnel vision looking at everyone that had access to that building and could have been there during that time period. the food and drug administration gives the okay to four drug companies to make the h1n1 vaccine. limited amounts should be available next month. china also approved new vaccines and plans to vaccinate 65 million people by year's end. we're going in depth bringing you the information you need to know about the baucus health care proposal. we have correspondents on the hill and at the white house and

analysts standing by as we examine the plan over the next two hours. health insurance, should you consider a co-op? personal finance editor gerri willis joins me next on that issue and josh levs is examining the baucus proposal right now. we'll check in with him throughout the newscast to see what's really in the plan. you're in "cnn newsroom." we're back in a moment.

as you can see, the river itself has stopped rising and has gone down. there is a few inches of water still sitting on top of the wall. >> i-reporter brent dow reporting from trinity river there in north texas which has been up at least near flood stage for the past couple days and at some point has been over flood stage and the hits keep on coming. welcome back to "cnn newsroom." this is what's going down in terms of flood warnings. they continue to stretch into parts of texas. the upper reaches of dallas and then flash flood warnings for northern arkansas and another 2 to 3 inches possible on top of all of the rain they already have seen in the past couple days which at this point measures about a half foot. as far as where the rain is going, bad news is the area of low pressure is there. if anything it may be sneaking back this way. already to places that are pretty saturated. that's bad news for folks who live in arkansas and texas and

parts of southeastern oklahoma. here's the forecast. it does stretch into parts of tennessee and georgia. a good chunk of the southeast not only today but tomorrow is going to see a fair amount of rainfall with this particular pattern. tropical storm marty just formed about 200 miles southwest of cabo san lucas. that's the latest from the weather department. ihave... can't have about half a i assure you it does. i can only taste... only taste the crunchy clusters, honey, and brown sugar. no madam, i don't have esp. (announcer) fiber one. cardboard no. delicious yes. how to get rich, by america's health insurance companies. health insurance premiums 4 times faster than wages. million dollars a year. deny payment for 1 out of every 5 treatments doctors prescribe. if the insurance companies win, you lose.

tell congress to rewrite the story. we want good health care we can afford with the choice of a public health insurance option.

the health care reform plan we've been waiting all summer for is out. we are going in depth bringing you the information you need to know about the baucus proposal and we have a knowledgeable team of correspondents and analysts to assist us. the health care overhaul outlined today in the senate contains many reforms president obama supports. the plan is likely to be a blueprint for final health care legislation. key point there. so what's in it? personal finance editor gerri willis is studying the proposal. walk us through, if you would, some of the basic elements. good morning. >> good morning. good to see you. let's take a look at these basic elements. first off, people would be required to have basic health insurance. if you didn't have basic health insurance, you could be fined according to some of the findings we found. it would provide tax credits to

lower income families so they could afford to purchase health insurance and it would create web based health insurance exchanges so individuals could sign up for insurance more easily. it would also increase medicaid and put a national standard on medicaid eligibility since right now it is up to each state and rules are different depending on where you go and it would drop the public option provision and allow for the creation of nonprofit health care cooperatives. >> okay. i'm trying to -- >> there's a lot. >> it's a lot there. >> can you take an extra moment or two and explain the co-ops for us. >> sure. you know, everybody heard about co-ops whether it is agricultural or electrical, credit unions another example. there are health co-ops in existence today. they are set up at nonprofit organizations. they say they can provide better coverage at a lower cost for their members because profits are put back into the system.

any money that's earned is used on patients and other costs. patients and co-ops really run the whole thing. they run the board. they hold election. discuss issues, concerns, have meetings. under this bill taxpayers would contribute up to $6 billion for co-ops startup money and they could cover as many as 12 million people. >> how would life change in a co-op? >> for patients co-ops work like private insurance. there are premiums and co-pays and most see doctors within a network. health care and co-op would be cheaper than private insurance but it's not necessarily always less expensive. it depends on the competition in your market. group health cooperative in washington, that's the last surviving co-op, it became a prototype for the senator's plan. while premiums increase by a slower rate compared to competitors, increases are big. for individual pieces increases average 12%, more than 12% since

2000. now, one of the highest hurdles a startup co-op would have is cra creating a large network of doctors so the doctor you use may not be in that network at first. most provisions won't take effect until 2014. it's a ways out in front of us. we have a ways to go. it will take a while for consumers to get their arms around what's in this bill. >> co-op will act as an insurance company bringing doctors into the network, hospitals into the network, correct? >> but nonprofit. so the money goes back to patients. it goes back to the system. it works like any other nonprofit really. >> okay. all right. appreciate it. good information for us. josh levs is dissecting the baucus plan as we speak. what are you finding? >> i made it through almost 100 pages so far. under this plan everyone in

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let's get you caught up on our top stories. no bipartisan support for the senate's long awaited health care proposal. max baucus posted his plan online. 12:45 eastern he'll have a press conference. plus, we have assembled a terrific panel to discuss the plan that's coming up in a couple minutes. in california today, police are searching several properties for evidence that may link phillip garrido to kidnapping of two other girls in the late 1980s.

the case have similarities to the kidnapping of jaycee dugard. garrido was arrested after dugard was found alive last month. >> some equated what they're working in back there to looking for evidence in a landfill. it's a very large piece of property with significant debris so this is going to be a matter of several days before we can wrap this up. >> change comes to japan. that country's new prime minister taking office today. it could mean a change in japan's relationship with the united states. the former opposition leader is expected to take a hard look at an agreement that allows u.s. troops to be deployed throughout japan. let's keep moving. it's wednesday. time to drop in on our chief business correspondent, ali velshi. he's on cnn radio right now answering your money questions. there you are. good to see you, doctor.

>> i was getting so carried away talking to our listeners. we're a year away from failure of lehman brothers and more and more people are saying this recession is over. i got an e-mail from someone which i don't entirely agree with this morning. we have to be more optimistic because the economy is a state of mind. it's not but i'm feeling optimistic. >> there are technical realities and then there is the psychology of these markets. come on. they go hand in hand here. you talked about -- right? >> absolutely. you can't have hand in hand without both hands. psychology is a major part of this economy because two-thirds of our economy at least before the recession, this may have changed a little bit with government spending we have now, but until the recession hit, two-thirds of our economy was determined by choices that consumers made as opposed to choices government makes. if consumer is feeling strong and hardy like seven elephants

they'll buy things and they're sure about their jobs. if they're not, money in the pocket. >> you get the august retail sales numbers and there's a nice pop there. >> higher, yeah. >> do you think that's just one-month occurrence or do you think maybe not at that level but you think it may be a sign that consumers are coming back to the table? >> i think we are splitting up. i think at this point in a recession the reality is different for different people. if you are unemployed, this recession doesn't matter whether ben bernanke or i say it is endin ending. if you are employed and you're hearing this good news about housing prices possibly stabilizing, low interest rates, stock market that's up 10% for the year and more than 45% since the lows in march, then you had had your money invested, you think i have dodged the bullet. some people are going out there and spending. they have pent-up frustration about not having spent. there's a real reality of many

millions of people out there why they're not working or looking for a job. this is what it will be like for the next year or so as we start to move our way up in this economy. we don't want to start an america with two tracks going. that's just a recipe no a bad society when you have an underclass and you have an upper class and you are squeezing out middle class because nobody is growing into it. this is a big issue we have to think about. >> let's get the phone number. we want to -- whenever you're on the show, we give the phone number and the numbers pop here. 877-266-4189 to reach ali on the radio. >> tomorrow night 11:00 p.m. we'll talk about very specific ways in which you can take advantage of this economy if is recovering and those specific ways are in housing, in the stock market, and in employment. we're going to give you some specific information you can use tomorrow night 11:00 right here

on cnn. >> terrific. we'll let you get back to your radio show. saving your health insurance while providing it for millions who don't have it. can it be done? we are looking closely at senator baucus' plan in just a couple minutes leading up to his 12:45 eastern news conference. you're in the "cnn newsroom." al flat and junk. oh, did i do that? here, let me get my cellular out - call ya a wrecker. ...oh shoot...i got no phone ...cuz i'm a pothole...so....k, bye! anncr: accidents are bad. anncr: but geico's good. with emergency road service. ding! you can serve a nutritious breakfast from walmart for just over $1 a person. one breakfast a week saves a family of four over $800 a year. save money. live better. walmart.

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live pictures of capitol hill where congress has a health care reform proposal to examine. the long awaited draft from senate finance chairman max baucus lacks bipartisan support. baucus discusses the plan live next hour. right now we're going in depth with a team of knowledgeable correspondents and analysts to bring you the information you need about the baucus plan. brianna keilar on capitol hill. this plan has been out there for almost two hours now. any reaction on the hill? >> reporter: we have reaction from senator mitch mcconnell, the top republican in the senate. he basically blasted this proposal saying that the cuts in it for medicare are basically

unacceptable. of course, this has been an issue that a lot of republicans have had and we've heard from some sources, democratic sources, who say that essentially seniors have nothing to worry about because that's really the concern here and it's not really a fear that should be realized. we're trying to get details on exactly how they back that up. that said, here's broad strokes about senator baucus' very detailed plan. $856 billion is the overall price tag. you probably recall we talked about trillion dollars for the bill we've seen in congress. this is significantly less and also the hallmark of this plan is that nonprofit health cooperative whichorred by patie serves. there's no public option as we expected in this detailed summary. and you mentioned that senator baucus put this out without

support with key republicans that he's been negotiating with for months. he doesn't have support. we know the republicans have not stepped away from the table. they are going to continue talking with senator baucus while this key proposal moves into the next phase which is all of the senators on this committee looking at it, proposing amendments and they'll begin voting on those next week. >> all right. that's a tight time line as i think about it. brianna keilar for us on capitol hill. appreciate it. thank you. josh levs is with us now. he's going through the plan. just ahead of the break a moment ago, josh, you mentioned something about olympic levels of coverage. what did you mean by that? >> there's language in the bill that says all plans available that are out there would be available in the following levels. bronze, silver, gold or platinum. the idea here similar to the exchange that it would help people find what their options are. what we're seeing is thinking that more competition and more clear information people have about what options there are,

the more it will do about choices and about cost overall in general. let me show you the language from it. i want to emphasize to everyone it just came out this morning. no one is an expert on it. including me. i pulled out language that will strike you. this is a summary that came along with it about how the control cost and talk about creating affordability tax credits. tax credits for small businesses. they say it will allow those that like coverage to hold onto it and talk about changes involving pre-existing conditions. i pulled out language from the proposal. it's not officially the bill itself. look at what they say here. issues in the individual market could vary premiums on the following characteristics. that speaks to everyone at home. when you look at how much you're getting charged versus how much for someone else, there are other factors and that's

significant. there's also language here that there could be regional changes as well that can help determine it. i want to mention this. a lot of people are concerned not about just what it would cost individuals but small businesses in america, what does it cost them? specific information about those saying that employers have to provide coverage. key parts of the language about cost inside this proposal. we'll see if it turns into a piece of legislation. >> terrific. josh, appreciate it. i know you're with us throughout the morning. we'll get back to you shortly. we put together a terrific panel to discuss this senate version of health care reform particularly the cost and those how we'll try to break this out. we'll talk about cost and then coverage and choice a little later. professor kenneth thorpe chairs the department of health policy and management at emery university. professor, good to see you. thank you for being here. amy is a financial correspondent for politico.com.

lori, good to see you as well. professor thorpe, let me establish more of your credentials here. is it true to say that you've had some conversations with the senate finance committee in terms of providing some guidance and some input as at least to frame out the discussion? is that correct to say? >> i've been asked on a number of occasions from staff to help them think through technical aspects of the bill. i've had the opportunity and the pleasure of working with the staff to work out some of the technical fine points of what you see in front of you today. >> i say that to say you know what's in here. you know what we're talking about here. let's talk about cost here. professor, when we talk about cost, let's be clear. what are we going to be paying for here? are we talking about an expansion of medicare/medicaid? you often told us to think about this as medicare plus.

what are we paying for and how is it paid for in the baucus plan? >> well, if you have health insurance through your employer today, essentially you'll keep it. you'll keep what coverage you have today if you currently get it through an employment base. everyone is focusing on the exchanges. if you're an individual self-employed, a small business, you would have the opportunity to buy private health insurance coverage as you just heard josh talk about that varies in terms of how much you would put out. the less generous bill you would pay about 30%. 35% in terms of deductibles and co-pays all of the way to more generous private plan where you would at a about 10% of the cost. it's up to your choice to pick whatever private plan you want or if it lasts, a not for profit co-op plan that would offer the same options. >> all right. amen, what are we paying for and how will we get it done?

>> part of what we're paying for is expansion of health care coverage to as many as 30 million americans who don't have health care insurance right now. that cost money to provide that. and how we're going to do that largely is through fees and taxes that are levied on players up and down the system depending on where they are and the young invincibles that think they'll never get sick and say forget it, i'm not going to buy health insurance, i'm going to save the money. those people will be forced to buy health insurance whether they like it or not. if they don't, they'll have to pay a fine for not having health insurance much the way we do today with car insurance. you have to have auto insurance to drive a car in case you hit someone else and you have to pay for that guy's bumper. same principle to health insurance. >> look, the finance committee is trying to bring this bill in to around $856 billion over ten

years. the question is, there are shifting numbers as to how many people will be covered by this. can it be done at this number? $856 billion? what's your analysis tell you about the cost of this? the actual cost? >> reporter: we >> we don't know what the actual cost of this. this is presumably a forecast from the congressional budget office which is the arbiter of what these things cost and they tell senate finance committee that this thing will cost $856 billion over the next ten years. they're also telling them so they tell us that the way they pay for it, which is a mix of savings for medicare and new taxes and fees on insurance companies and other providers will more than cover the cost. so they're not saying that they have a paid for plan. they're saying they have a plan that is going to save the government money over the next ten years and start to reduce the skyrocketing deficit. >> i see.

professor, let me come back to you. you suggested that the cost will -- to really do this effectively is more like a trillion and maybe as much as a trillion five or trillion eight. explain how you come to those numbers. >> those are based on earlier drafts from the finance committee. they have made several changes in the current proposal that senator baucus put out today that basically changed the benefits and changed the federal subsidies. so that did reduce the overall cost of the package down to about 860 billion over the next ten years. i think the best thing you can say is that we know these are estimates. the best attempt from the congressional budget office to get it right. we also know that estimates are always generally wrong. the provision the president talked about last week i think is really important for the listeners to understand is that to the extent revenues and savings don't generate enough to

fund a program, the president suggested we put in an automatic trigger that would trigger additional spending cuts to pay for it. i think that's a nice reassurance that he put out there to make sure this really is paid for. >> okay. professor thorpe, thank you. we'll continue this conversation next hour right here in "cnn newsroom" with this terrific panel. allegations of brave desecration. a cemetery worker said he broke open crypts and dumped bodies on the order of his bosses. instead of $5 per person for fast food,

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let's get you caught up on our top stories. finance chairman max baucus posted his plan online. he's following up with a news conference you can catch here live 12:45 eastern, 9:45 pacific. important information in that news conference. a number of murders in mexico reached a new high. a city spokesman said there have been 1,627 deaths this year across the border from el paso, texas. the killings stem mainly from a turf war between two drug cartels. venezuela is buying tanks,

missiles and anti-aircraft systems from russia. clinton wants guarantees the weapons won't fall into the hands of drug cartels or insurgent groups. on wall street, stocks are rising to their highest levels in nearly a year. yesterday ben bernanke said the recession is likely over and today new economic reports are supporting that bill. susan lisovicz at the new york stock exchange. this is good news. you should be on the floor instead of in that cubby hole that you're in. good to see you. pass along the latest market reaction. >> i'll save the floor for you as well as a cup of champagne to go along with it. the gains today, they're not explosive but we have seen the market rally, tony harris, since the beginning of march. the dow is now up 10% for the year. s&p 500 is up 16.5% for the year. the nasdaq is up -- wait for it. 33%. >> that's what i'm talking

about. >> you know, the positive momentum today coming from reports showing that consumer prices holding steady. industrial production jumped last night. the factories showing that they're boosting production of cars, machinery, food products, clothing. we are seeing green arrows across the board. dow is up half a percent. the nasdaq, s&p 500, each up as much. budweiser shares up 1%. i should say bud. it is back on the big board. anheuser-busch was bought by belgium's imbev last year. it made the brewer even bigger and moved the primary listing to brussels but there's a relisting under the former ticker named for bestselling beer. anheuser-busch.

inbev rang the opening bell to celebrating the listing. it was free of clydesdale horses and cold beverages of any kind. >> can you imagine what we would say today if the job pictures were better with all of the other good news that's starting to develop? can you imagine? we would really have to pop open that bottle of champagne you mentioned. >> it would not be served in a paper cup. >> just put it in a brown paper bag. that's how i like it. see you next hour. still to come in the "newsroom," serious allegations of cemetery desecration. an ex-worker talks about how he broke up old burial vaults to make room for new ones.

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to break concrete burial vaults to make room for new ones at eden memorial park. he tells cnn just what he would throw away. >> sometimes a small piece. throw it in. sometimes skulls. >> yes. >> garcia plains how a salesman would tell him to break the vaults in secret. >> say, break this piece. break this piece. i would say not supposed to break. go ahead. nobody can see. go ahead. do that. >> reporter: using a backhoe, garcia says he and other workers would break through the cement vaults. >> broke one piece for the same way. just piece them in the body inside. we see it broken.

>> reporter: garcia would take remains to large dark hole in the cemetery where no one could see what's going on. >> we just stop when people around because they always say stop when you see somebody coming. do nothing. >> reporter: similar allegations are made in a lawsuit filed against eden memorial and its owner service corporation international including claims of secretly breaking and opening buried caskets and dumping human remains and selling burial plots without actually having the space all to make more money. garcia says breaking up the burial plots was common practice. he was fired in 2008. he says he wasn't given a reason. a service corporation international spokesperson says he was fired for cause but declined to give details. in a statement, the company says --

allegations. it says, eden memorial conducts extensive training with its employees, and we support that with strict policies and procedures. garcia says he was only doing what he was told by supervisors. >> no matter what happened in there, bones and everything, you guys go ahead and do the job. they pay me. i working. i do anything they told me. >> wow. >> a spokesman for california cemetery and funeral borough says the agencies will look in to the allegations raised in the lawsuit. the cemetery got a warning letter last year after the state found five graves have been disturbed, but there was no evidence that it was done intentionally. >> abbi, look, the guy you interviewed, he's talking so -- you never -- you never see these

people actually -- >> right. >> -- actually carry out the acts. >> right. >> and he's speaking so casually, how do we explain this? >> we asked him about it, he said i'm doing it 10 to 15 years and i'm not the only worker to do this. this is something more routine. i don't know, i guess that was part of the reason he was speak so candidly and openly and casually. >> very casually. >> and that's what's so odd about watching this interview, why is he talking about it like this? we do since we did air this story, a lot of other people have come forward -- >> yeah. >>-- to, you know, find out -- they're concerned about their own loved ones, and as we do more stories about this and find out more details, you know, we'll find out what's going open. >> absolutely. abb abbie, thank you. we are dissecting senator max baucus' health care reform plan. we brought together a terrific panel to break down the proposal, including a man who had his say in helping to craft

the plan. kenneth thorpe is here, and brianna keilar and dana bash are looking through the 200-plus pages and josh levs is reading it and he's gotten through more than 100 pages, josh. we want you to know what is actually in the proposal. that is our focus over the next hour right here in the "cnn newsroom." o get rid of algae, and we're trying to grow it. the algae are very beautiful. they come in blue or red, golden, green. algae could be converted into biofuels... that we could someday run our cars on. in using algae to form biofuels, we're not competing with the food supply. and they absorb co2, so they help solve the greenhouse problem, as well. we're making a big commitment to finding out... just how much algae can help to meet... the fuel demands of the world.

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the vaccines for this virus are being produced under careful fda oversight, using the same licensed manufacturing processes and facilities used for seasonal flu vaccines. >> health and human services secretary, kathleen sebelius, assuring the public that the

newly approved h1n1 vaccines are safe. they are due to be released in quantities next month. china is already said to begin distributing its vaccines, those are made in china and are only for the chinese public. here's cnn's emily chang with a view from the production line. >> reporter: in a nation of 1.3 billion people, china has long warned an outbreak of h1n1 could be catastrophic. now, it's set to become the first country to provide mass i knock cuelations. chinese company, cnavac produced the first successful h1n1 vaccine in the world and is preparing millions of doses for the public. it's also the only company to produce a vaccine for sars, the worldwide pandemic that left almost 350 people in china dead. "the sars vaccine helped us make the bird flu vaccine which helped us get the h1n1 vaccine,"

says the company's ceo. "that's why we were so fast and the first." every day tens of thousands of fertilized eggs are infected with the virus. the virus is later extracted and purified. and here is the final product. inside this vial is a vaccine for the h1n1 virus. right now it's being bottled and labeled and boxed to be sent across china and fulfill government orders. the chinese government has ordered more than 10 million vaccines from this company and two other chinese companies. it's approved for people aged 3 to 60. the priority will be given to children, soldiers, police, medical and transport staff. as with any vaccine, world health officials have warned of possible side effects, and some chinese are skeptical. "i don't think my baby will get the swine flu, so the vaccine seems unnecessary," says this mother. "and what if it affects his health in the future?" still, health authorities have heavily publicized the virus's

risk. this young patient seen with her doctor on a video screen before crowds of journalists. they've also rolled out a traditional chinese medicine plan. china has taken perhaps the most extreme measures wordwide to prevent the virus' spread. boarding international flights and checking passengers' temperatures before granting entry. thousands have quarantined including entire flights and school groups from around the world. though no one in china has died from the virus yet, infections are accelerating. of the more than 9,000 cases so far, more than half of them happened in the last few weeks. >> it's basically affected all -- all provinces of china, and we are worried because of the sheer number of people involved which could place a huge burden on the health care system. >> reporter: with flu season starting and school back in session, they are worried the virus could mutate or combine with other strains to create a superbug that could be extremely

contagious or even deadly. emily chang, cnn, beijing. do you have questions about the h1n1 virus or the vaccine? send them to us at mailtothechief@cnn.com or tweet us at kyracnn. assistant surgeon general dr. annie shuckat will be here in the 1:00 p.m. session of the "cnn newsroom" to answer your questions. time for your midday reset. i'm tony harris in the "cnn newsroom." it's 12:00 on capitol hill, the democratic chairman of the senate finance committee plans to take the blueprint public this hour. will it meet president obama's definition of reform? let's get started. we get details this hour from the senator who crafted a landmark $856 billion plan to overhaul the nation's health care system. finance committee chairman, max bauc baucus, holds a news conference 45 minutes from right now. folks are starting to gather in

bdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdbd he posted his proposal online earlier. here's a little of what we know -- the plan drops the public health insurance option. instead, calling for the creation of nonprofit health care cooperatives. it would bar insurance companies from dropping a sick policyholder, and adds protections for people with pre-existing conditions, plus no federal money would go for abortions or to illegal immigrants. baucus, sounding optimistic this morning, about his plan. >> well, today's a big day. many steps forward. i look forward to more detailed announcement later this afternoon. it's a big day. i feel very good about moving forward. we're getting a bill out now. >> what sort of republicans will be on the bill? >> i think when we finally vote on the bill to the markup, there will be republican support. >> baucus' plan comes without the support of republican senators in a so-called gang of six. it is made up of three democrats

and three republicans from the finance committee. the democrats are max baucus, of montana, kent conrad, of north dakota, and jeff bingaman of new mexico. the republicans, olympia snowe of maine and charles grassley of iowa and mike enzi of wyoming. they insist they are still working on reaching a deal. we are covering all angles of this story. our reporters on capitol hill and the white house are tracking the impact of the baucus plan. plus, we'll be checking with our josh levs, who is going through the proposal right now. and you will hear from professor kenneth thorpe, chairman of the department of health policy and management at emory university, as well as eamon javers, financial correspondent at politico.com. a lot going on here. more positive economic news to share with you. the core of the consumer price index rose 1.4% in the past 12 months, raising little concern over inflation. and factory output rose for the second straight month, posting a 0.8% gain. auto production led the way, due mainly to the government's cash

for clunkers program. the murder of yale graduate student annie le, police are investigating a university employee who worked in the laboratory where le's body was found. raymond clark was released from police custody early this morning after a questioning and dna testing. new haven police chief, james lewis, gave us an update on the investigation. >> we've at this point looked at about 700 hours worth of video. we've interviewed over 150 people. some we interviewed a second time. we've got over 150 pieces of evidence seized so far. that's at the lab. much of it's already at the lab. we expect to gather more this evening during these two search warrants to send to the lab, and once we continue through this process, as we try to narrow down who the suspect is in this horrendous crime. >> an alleged campus gang rape has students concerned about their safety. they say they first learned about the sunday morning incident at hofstra university from the media or facebook.

not from the long island school. >> we should have gotten an e-mail. we should have gotten a cell phone alert. we should have gotten anything to say that this happened. >> i can't believe it. normally i feel like this is a really safe campus. >> university officials say that they notified students monday afternoon through an internal home page. the school says it only sends text and e-mail alerts when there is an imminent threat. the suspects, including one hofstra student, are charged with rape. the votes are all tallied, and it appears afghan president hamid karzai won more than 54% of the vote in last month's election. but karzai will have to wait for certification. the election is tainted with charges of fraud. european union observers say more than 1.5 million ballots are suspicion. they've already tossed out more than 220,000 votes. and back now to our top story, the long-awaited senate

health care reform proposal from finance committee chairman, max baucus. price tag, $856 billion over 10 years. no republican support. live now to cnn congressional correspondent, brianna keilar, on capitol hill. and what are you learning? >> reporter: no republican support at this point, tony, which is obviously not what senator max baucus, the democratic chairman of the senate finance committee, wanted to hear. but they haven't stepped away from the table. they are going to continue to negotiate. and clearly down to the wire here over the next week as the senate finance committee considers this draft, or certainly they're going to get pretty close to the wire there before you find out if they're on board or if they definitely are not. broad strokes here as you said, $856 billion. look at that price tag. it's significant, because a lot of the other bills, all of the other bills, in fact, are close to $1 trillion. all of the other bills in congress. and so this is significant lower than that. also instead of that public option, that government-run insurance plan, this includes nonprofit health care

cooperatives, co-ops, that would essentially be governed by the very patients that they serve. so, this is something very different than those other plans, those -- the plans in the house as well as the one other plan that's come out of the senate that includes a public option, tony. >> and, brianna, to what extent does this proposal address some of the concerns that the committee chairman has had with members of his own committee? we're talking about democrats and republicans. to what extent does this proposal sort of give us a view at the difficult negotiations here? >> reporter: well, let's take a look at how this draft deals with some of the concerns specifically of senator charles grassley. >> yes. >> reporter: top republican on this committee. part of the gang of six. he's raised some pretty serious concerns. wanting to make sure there are no federal funds for abortions. so, according to this draft, there are none. there would not be a -- there would be no mandate for private

insurers to cover abortion in sort of the minimum package that essentially the government says, here's what you have to include in your minimum insurance package. but this isn't going to be enough, as we understand it, for some anti- -- some of the anti-abortion camps, because right now there are some federal funds that are allowed in the case of incest, rape, that are allowed in the case of if the life of the mother is in danger. >> yes. >> reporter: so we know that, you know, there are some concerns here that it's not going to be tight enough or really this is just restating current law, and they're kind of not really dealing with the issue. also, illegal immigrants, there have been some questions, of course, about whether some of them would be able to get access to some of this federal money that's going to help low-income americans pay for their health insurance. and this puts in place a verification system that would go through the social security administration as well as perhaps the department of homeland security. we'll see if that is enough for

some republicans who have raised this concern, and also that issue of medical malpractice. some republicans and some democrats -- you know, a lot of republicans and some democrats have said they really need to curb these lawsuits where -- >> yes. >> reporter: -- they say doctors are practicing defensive medicine and it's driving up the cost of things. in this draft, it just says essentially there is a sense of the senate that states need to do something to find an alternative to letgation. i -- i suspect we're going to be hearing some republicans saying that's not strong enough language. they want caps. >> absolutely. all right, brianna keilar on capitol hill for us. thank you. we are breaking down senator max baucus' health care proposal, looking at what it means for you, and who will be covered? ! i'll have to use my powers wisely. with unbeatable on maybelline pulse beauty costs save money. live better. walmart. how to get rich, by america's health insurance companies. health insurance premiums 4 times faster than wages.

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a lot of balls in the air here. a lot to get to this hour. aboutmy minutes from now senator max baucus discusses his long-awaited health care plan. we are bringing all the angles on this. our reporters at capitol hill and at the white house discussing the impact. plus, we'll be checking with our josh levs in just a couple moments here, who is going through the baucus proposal, and you will also hear from professor kenneth thorpe chaifr emory university, and also eamon javers, political correspondent at politico.com. a lot to get to. so, who is covered under today's senate health care plan?

who is not? josh has been doing a little research. what have you found? >> a lot of major sticking issues when it comes to who and what is covered. i'll go through the words of the proposal. i will emphasize that you can see it on our blog, we link it to you. it's very long. no one here's an expert on it at least, at least i'm not. but we do have the text as we go through it. and this is important. let's zoom right in. the biggest question is who is required to have it? beginning 2013 all u.s. citizens and legal residents will be required to purchase the coverage. it says there would be exemptions, though, religious objections and those that are consistent with the current ones that don't have to have it under medicare. check this out, if you're uninsured, this is about pre-existing conditions. if you are uninsured and you have been denied because of that you would be allowed in this high-risk pool. this is the one that gets me. take a look at this. we'll talk to the guests about it. currently covered individuals must be uninsured for six months

before gaining access to the high-risk pool. if you have a pre-existing condition you would have to have no health insurance at all, as i'm reading this, before you can get access to the pool. clarification on that. quickly, brianna before the break was talking about illegal immigrants, this specifically says what they would do is establish the system under which they would look for name, social security number, date of birth to be verified with the social security administration. but, tony, some people have already said it's not enough. we've heard it in the past. abortion here. explains the rules of abortion. it cannot be a mandated benefit as part of a minimum package except in current cases where federal funds are currently allowed. it does say, though, this is important, that a private plan that is part of this system would not be prohibited from providing coverage for abortions in other cases. and, tony, that's part of the controversy. >> got you. >> one more thing. >> sure. >> prescription drugs, one of the most important medical conditions in the country, people talk about it. it would make prescription drugs a mandatory benefit for the

categorically medically needy, beginning 2014. summarizing this, all the major issues of discussion are in this and they've been laid out in language that is pretty readable. how it will ultimately play out and what will ultimately become law, we have to see. thank you. professor kenneth thorpe chairs the department of health policy and management at emory university. eamon javers is financial correspondent at politico.com. gentlemen, good to have you back this hour. dr. thorpe, let me start with you. how important to any meaningful health care reform is this idea of a coverage mandate? >> well, i think a coverage mandate is essential, because the insurance reforms that we want to do, eliminating pre-existing conditions, not letting insurance companies drop you when you're sick, you really need to have everybody covered in the system in order to do the insurance reform. so, i think it's bean essential part of this proposal. and eamon javers, an essential

part of the proposal according to professor thorpe, but, boy, that raises all kinds of thorny issues moving forward. well, you take them on. you take them on. >> well, the key here, the sort of philosophical linchpin to this idea that everybody has to be covered. what insurance companies do now they charge you more if you're a riskier customer. that's because the riskier customers are likely to cost them more. so people that smoke, for example, are likely to have more health issues that are more expensive going into the future. under this proposal, the pre-existing conditions, with the exception of smoking and 21 or two very other small limitations, will be limited. in order to pay for the expense of that, they have to bring in all these younger healthier people into the system to balance it out. so, net, net, the costs are about the same. >> got you. >> that's why you have to have this mandate for coverage and that's why all the proposals have it in there. >> i nearly got ahead of myself a moment ago. but, professor thorpe, back to you. what will ultimately constitute

coverage? what benefits would you have to have, would you have to carry, you think moving forward, to be considered covered? >> well, in essence, if you have coverage today through your employer, as i understand it, that will constitute coverage, credible coverage. if you don't have coverage or you're a self-employed individual, small business, buying through the exchange, there are four benefit packages there. there's a bronze benefit package in the olympic vernacular. as long as you have a bronze benefit package, which means that the health plan pays about 65% of the costs of health care, you pay 35%. as long as you have that, that would constitute health insurance coverage. >> got you. and, eamon, to what extent will this idea of expanded medicare, this idea of medicare plus, be a mechanism to cover more people? >> i think it's going to be an important mechanism. and largely because medicare is so popular in this country. it's very poll latable, i think, to talk about expanding medicare

politically in an era in which health care reform itself is being criticized widely as, you know, sort of socialism, talking about medicare, which is a government-run health program, is very popular still. and, in fact, sometimes today when you look at some of the republican criticisms of this, they're talking about cuts to the benefits that the government provides already to senior citizens in particular. so, some of these things have been passed into law in the past and are now sort of treasured american programs, that nobody wants to see cut. and the fight is over all the rest of it now. >> and, professor thorpe, should seniors, who are covered now through medicare, this idea of an expanded medicare, expanded medicaid, should they be concerned that more people will necessarily mean a reduction in the quality of care? >> no, i don't think so. and, in fact, i think one of the exciting things that's in this senate proposal is that there are actually new benefits in the medicare program that are

proposed. so, for example, getting a cancer screen, any type of preventive services. now under the proposal, you wouldn't have to pay any type of cost sharing for that. there would be a new health risk appraisal. to help you sort of manage your health care and put together a care plan. those would now be paid services through the medicare program, so there's actually, i think, some exciting news in this for seniors as this proposal goes through. >> professor thorpe, appreciate it. eamon, as always, thank you. will the senate plan pass the white house test? that's next. right now 1.2 million people are on sprint mobile broadband. 31 are streaming a sales conference from the road. eight are wearing bathrobes. two... less. - 154 people are tracking shipments on a train. - ( train whistles ) 33 are im'ing on a ferry. and 1300 are secretly checking email... - on a vacation. - hmm? ( groans ) that's happening now. america's most dependable 3g network. bringing you the first and only wireless 4g network. sprint. the now network. deaf, hard of hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com.

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our top stories now. so far, no bipartisan support for the senate's long-awaited health care reform proposal. finance committee chairman, max baucus, has posted his plan online. he is following up shortly with a news conference. you can watch it here live, 12:45 eastern, 9:45 pacific in the "newsroom." afghan president, hamid karzai, wins another term, claiming 54% of last month's vote. but there are charges of voter fraud. car die is blasting european observers who say they found 1.5 million ballots not counted. we have been talking about detectives on the case, and what are the detectives telling you? >> they've told me that the case was horrific in their words.

the gang rape happened over the weekend, early sunday morning. a college freshman, she was 18 years old. was attending a dance on campus at a fraternity fund-raiser, where she met two of the men involved in the rape. one of them took her cell phone, luring her out of the dance into a nearby dormitory, and she somehow agreed to go with him up to a higher floor on the dorm. when the elevator door opened, another man was there, met them. he had a cord, which they used to bound her in the nearby men's bathroom. police detectives tell me that they sexually assaulted her, and then three other men came into the bathroom, when she call out for help, thinking, oh, my god, these guys can save me. turns out they were also friends of the two other men and they also proceeded to sexually assault her. detectives say they arrested two

after half an hour and other men were arrested in the bronx. a fifth man is being pursued. and i spoke to female students on the campus who were clearly shaken by what happened. they feel overall hofstra university campus is safe, though they do feel that they should have been notified much sooner than they were. a lot of rumors were swirling around sunday after this happened, but notification didn't come from hofstra until monday. and they do feel that maybe since it was such a horrific event that they should have been notified on sunday to clear up some of the rumors. and also to let the women know that this is something that was taken care of quickly and efficiently. >> what is the position, laura, of hofstra on this in terms of the notification and whether or not more notification should have gone out to the student body? >> their position was that this wasn't an imminent threat to other women or other students on campus, so they decided to wait until monday to go ahead and make that notification.

>> yeah. >> and i did ask the detectives about it, and they did discuss it, and the security team decided to wait until monday. whether that was to make sure they had all of the information correct before they sent out that notice and whether or not, you know, they wanted to make clear what happened and, you know, that they wanted to wait until they had everything correct before they sent out the notice. but the students told us -- but the students told us they get alerts very quickly on many other events. sometimes stuff that doesn't even happen on campus, so they felt that they should have been notified. >> yeah, yeah, absolutely. one more quick one, laura, the young woman here. detectives give you any indication as to whether or not she was just an unfortunate random victim here, or whether or not this young woman might have been targeted? >> they didn't say she was targeted, but she did have some sort of interaction with the two men at this dance. you know, clearly something was planned afterwards, because the two men were at the dance, and one left to go to the dorm where

he met her at the elevator doorway as it opened. so, whether it was a target or an opportunity, we don't know. >> okay. laura dolan for us. one of our cnn producers at hofstra university on long island. the location of what's being described as a horrific sexual attack over the weekend. thank you. let's dip in now, the president is meeting with canadian prime minister, stephen harper, and he's making comments about afghanistan. >> -- without having absolute clarity about what the strategy will be. so, we're going to proceed and make sure that we don't put the cart before the horse. >> just very quickly, i -- to try and answer that question directly. i certainly don't think, notwithstanding the continued problems in many parts of the country, the fierce efforts of the insurgency, i don't think the taliban in any way constitutes an alternative

government or, you know, any immediate threat to replace iin the government of afghanistan. so, i think in that sense, you know, we can see the progress that's been made. obviously, though, we are concerned about the strength of the insurgency. we, as i say, welcome the renewed american effort and effort of some nato countries. our emphasis in canada, for some time now, particularly since we extended our mission, has been really the necessity of seeing the afghan government accept and be able to handle greater responsibility for the day-to-day security of that country as we move forward. afghanistan's a very difficult country. i think all of our militaries, canadian, american, british, those who have been highly engaged, i think have done a tremendous job at, you know, moving the ball forward. but in the end, we have to be clear that the security and

sovereignty of afghanistan can in the long term only be done by afghans themselves. so, i think whatever we do on both sides of the border and with our nato partners, has to have that as its long-term objective. was it eric? >> yes. >> mr. president, prime minister, in contrast to the smart, brief question, i have a double-barreled question under the umbrella of security. canada and other nato allies have set deadlines to leave afghanistan. mr. president, are you worried that the u.s. will be left to carry the burden in afghanistan? what role would you like to see for canada beyond 2011, prime minister, do you have any advice for the president, exit strategy or otherwise? and then on economic security, mr. president, despite assurances not to worry, u.s. protectionism is hurting canadian businesses, according to canadian businesses, and we wondered if there was anything more you feel that you can or that you should do about that. and, mr. prime minister, your

views at this stage now that we've seen buy american play itself out. >> well, let me start with afghanistan, and i'll just reiterate what i said earlier. we are in the process of making a strategy -- a series of strategic decisions that will be sustainable and we'll be doing so in close consultation with our allies and our partners. we are tremendously grateful for the extraordinary sacrifices of the canadian military. they have fought. they have had staying power. they have absorbed, you know, losses that we all grieve for. and so i'm not worried about what will happen post-2011.

i want to make sure that, given the commitments that have already been made and that are continuing, that we make sure that the canadian presence there fits into a coherent whole and that it's accomplishing our goals. and our goals are to eliminate al qaeda as a threat and, as prime minister harper mentioned, i think it is important to recognize that ultimately afghan security has to transition on to the shoulders of afghan -- the afghan government and afghan security forces. and so the degree to which we are training them and building capacity, that's something that i'm certain will be part of any long-term strategy, sustainable strategy. on the economic -- >> so, it sounds like the real goal moving forward for the obama administration, as it conducts its administrationwide reassessment of strategy and policy with regard to

afghanistan, is that one goal of eliminating al qaeda as a thr t threat. didn't mention the taliban in that particular equation. but certainly said that the goal is eliminating al qaeda as a threat. the president in his conversation, taking some questions from the media, after his meeting with canadian prime minister, stephen harper. reviewing the strategy, particularly at a time when public support for the war in afghanistan continues to slip. we will continue to follow developments on that front, as well as the health care front. that is our focus this hour. and it is certainly not everything that the president wants, but the senate version of the health care reform plan that is out today mirrors many of the ideas he supports. let's bring in our white house correspondent now, suzanne malveaux. suzanne, is the senate plan that we're looking at now and

analyzing today, is it something that the white house can live with? >> reporter: tony, i think they can absolutely live with this. i've been talking with white house aides who say they are quite satisfied with some of the things they have seen, very much mirrors, as you say, what the president brought forward to the joint session of congress just last week. white house statements from a spokesman saying last week the president laid out his plans to bring americans to don't have insurance and high-quality coverage for those who don't have insurance. the senate finance committee markup by chairman baucus is another boost of momentum for the president's effort to reform the health care system. if you take a look at in and break it down whether whether or not you are look at the hundreds of pages or just the summary, it's clear there are some things very much in sync with the white house. take, for example, the cost of this. you're looking at $856 billion over 10 years. the president said it was going to be $900 billion over 10 years. very much in line with the white house figure. consumers protections. again, people who would be able to go ahead and get health care

insurance, not be denied health care insurance, because of a pre-existing condition or a very bad illness. that's in this -- in this legislation. a tax credit for low-income families to make it more affordable for folks. that is something the president has been talking about. and, finally, this health insurance exchange, the idea that people would have options, be able to shop around for different kinds of insurance, different kinds of care. that is what the white house is seeking. now, tony, you know, make no mistake, the president, the administration, didn't get everything -- >> right. >> reporter: -- that they wanted, and there are some serious differences here. one of the things that we see here is this requirement for everybody to have health insurance or actually face a fine. as a candidate, candidate obama, he slammed his opponent, hillary clinton, for this very idea of requiring everyone to have insurance, saying just the children should be required to have insurance, that people have choices. he has come around to this position. he has been convinced of his position, because he realizes you've got to get healthy people

signed up -- >> right, in the system. >> reporter: exactly, so you can afford to actually make these changes. the biggest difference here is it lacks the public option, that government-run option, insurance option, that he had been saying is the most preferable. it's the best way to offer competition to those private insurance companies. that's not going to happen. it's not in here. they don't have the support. that would end up being the third rail, if you will, in this whole debate. that's been jettisoned. and finally it doesn't have the bipartisan support that the president certainly had hoped. he said he sought it at least, it's something he ran on in the campaign, not just change, but bridging the divide between republicans and democrats. the whole thing. that obviously looks like that's not going to happen for him, but there's a lot of stuff in here that the white house is very pleased with, tony. >> in general, there's a lot of stuff in there that we've got to sort through. all right, suzanne malveaux, appreciate it. thank you, suzanne. >> reporter: sure. we want to take you back to the president and canadian prime minister, stephen harper. let's listen in. we're hoping to hear some

comments from the president himself on the baucus plan. [ speaking french ] [ speaking french ] >> okay. we'll wait for the president's comments. and then we will turn those around for you. a check of the day's business news as we wait to hear from senator max baucus on his long-awaited health care reform plan. (announcer) what do people notice about you?

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support. live to cnn's senior congressional kornt, dana bash. and, dana, you had an opportunity, i don't know how good you are at speed reading here. it's 200-some-odd pages. but if you would, share with us some of the highlights as you've read through it. >> reporter: absolutely. we can reset here. many of the highlights we've been reporting on for a couple of weeks. first, the overall price, it's set at $856 billion, and that's important, because it's a lot less, considerably less, than the house democrats' proposal, which was have a trillion dollars. and senator baucus is going to say he believes it is entirely paid for, meaning it won't add to the deficit. $507 billion, he'll be getting it from cuts and savings in government health programs, including medicare. and $349 billion in new taxes and fees. that includes a tax on insurance companies for their high-cost insurance plans. now, in terms of requirements, just like most of the plans, this would make it clear that

people wouldn't be banned from and barred from insurance, if they have pre-existing conditions. another important note here, and maybe a little bit controversial, all individuals would be required to have health insurance. >> very important, yeah. >> reporter: really important, because if they don't, they could face a fine. and we're talking about up to $3,800 for families making $66,000 a year. and there isn't a mandate for businesses, but certainly it is encouraged through various ways for businesses to make sure their employees get health care. now, let's look at something that is really important. the provisions in here, tony, that really makes this different from the other democratic bills, because they are geared more towards moderate democrats and, frankly, republicans. no public option. >> yeah. >> reporter: what the president had originally said he wanted. many democrats call it do or die from their perspective. does not have a government-run health care option. instead it has an idea of a nonprofit cooperative. also, there are fewer subsidies in here for low-income americans. fewer than what we saw in the house bill. why is that geared towards

republicans? well, because that lowers the overall costs of this bill. less of a burden on the federal taxpayers and on the federal government. >> yeah. >> reporter: lastly, there are some prohibitions in here for illegal immigrants, specifically some pretty strict verification systems to make sure illegal immigrants don't get this coverage, and also more language than other bills have had to make it clear that this health insurance program, or these policies, particularly and especially, paid for with federal taxpayer dollars, would not go for abortions. >> yeah. >> reporter: so, that's the goal here. but i wanted to point something out. >> sure. >> reporter: so, i'm standing in the room where senator baucus is going to come in about ten minutes. he'll come and speak at this podium behind me. he's going to be alone. you know, we have been talking, you and i -- >> yes. >> reporter: -- for months basically outside his office and he had been trying to get republicans on board, particularly the three republicans he has been working with. they're not going to be standing here. not only are they not going to be standing here, they are not yet supporting the proposal that

he put forward today. they're not saying they're walking away from the table. they're saying they are going to continue to negotiate, but we've seen pretty strong statements from some of the republicans especially mike enzi of wyoming and charles grassley of iowa, saying that they simply don't think it does enough to control health care costs and the overall bill is just too much. so, those are just some of the examples why they think it needs to be changed. i'm sure senator baucus is going to make clear he knows it's not perfect and the process is going to continue next week when they actually put this in the committee and they start votes actually in this room or at least in a room down the hall to start amending this proposal. >> boy, i've got two questions, particularly on the note that he will be there alone. i'm wondering kent conrad, where is senator conrad? what about senator bingaman? why won't they be there? >> reporter: that's a good question. kent conrad, and we're talking about another democrat. >> yeah. >> reporter: the two other democrats you just mentioned, of course, for our viewers, who are the two other democrats who have been in the room with senator baucus. he put out a statement also

saying that he doesn't think this goes entirely all the way. he had offered some counterproposals and he has some issues with this, including the cost as well. and he says he's not entirely satisfied. and he also plans to offer some amendments -- >> boy. >> reporter: -- in the committee. so, look, senator baucus knows this is not perfect. as suzanne had reported earlier at the white house they believe, and certainly among democratic leaders here, they believe this probably has one of the best chances of passing, and it's not necessarily because it would be bipartisan. >> right, right. >> reporter: many people, most people here think, we're talking about democratic leaders, that at best they're probably going to get one, maybe two, republicans at the end of the day in the senate. but the key here is making sure that they have enough democrats to pass it. >> got you. >> reporter: and there are enough conservative democrats, enough moderate democrats, who don't like some of the provisions in the house bill like that public option, that this is very much geared towards them and towards ultimately getting something that can pass the congress, and that's why at the white house they welcome this in a big way. >> so much there, all right, our

senior congressional correspondent, dana bash for us, thank you. let's get to josh levs now. josh, you have been working through. boy, we talked about cost. we talked about coverage. choice, right? is that what we're focusing on now? >> we're talking about choice, absolutely. i'm piecing through the bill, rather, the suggested bill, right? the proposal. >> yeah, yeah. >> i want to tell everyone they can see at cnn.com/tony or /josh. it's 220 pages and we're piecing through it big time. we're pulling out some of the language that is designed to help increase choice. as you know, part of what this is about is establishing the exchanges under which people would have different options under different plans. let's zoom in. i pulled out a few lines. all private insurers who are in this system must be available in the newly established state exchanges. and part of what people wonder when it comes to the exchanges, tony, how does the cost work out? what they say the state exchanges would receive initial federal funding. then after that they would be self-sustaining in future years. and, tony, last hour, i mentioned the olympic terminology. >> yes, yes.

>> our guests were talking about it. four benefit categories would be available bronze, silver, gold, and platinum, to make it simpler for people to make the choices. but check out the huge list, underneath it, every plan, bronze or whatever, it has to include a massive list of stuff. and it ends the section saying this, plans could not include lifetime limits on coverage or annual limits on any benefits. you know, even if we didn't get massive health reform passed, even if just something like that happened or just new rules on pre-existing conditions, those kind of things alone would bring about a sea change in the way that health care works in america. cases like that you actually see a lot of people, there is some bipartisan support for things like that. everything else is the sticking point. choice is one of the places where as a rule democrats and republicans have a lot in common on this. and if this could get through, that would be big. >> okay, let's drill down on it a little bit more. thank you. >> got it. let's bring in our health care reform panel, again, to talk about the choices in the senate plan. professor kenneth thorpe, chairs the department of health policy

and management at emory university. eamon javers financial correspondent for politico.com. two sharp, sharp minds on this professor, let me start with you. i want to get to the exchange in a moment. but we also know there are provisions here for what's called a health care co-op. please explain that to me so that it makes sense not only for me but for everyone watching. >> all a health care co-op, it's a not-for-profit health plan. the management of it is run by its membership. there are no profits obviously. i think the intent is is to make sure that all of the decisions about how the health plan operates really are in the best interests of its members. so, it's quite different, obviously, than a for-profit health care plan in that respect. >> okay. and the idea of the exchange that we're hearing about and josh just explained a little bit of the language, drill down a little deeper on that for us? what do we mean by this exchange? >> think of it is just as a marketplace where people who are in small businesses, they're self-employed, can actually go

to the internet or go physically and actually sign up for coverage. so, it's a way to provide information to people in a very simple way. it basically performs the same function that your employer at cnn or mine at emory would play for me in terms of a health benefits department. >> yeah. what, if anything, does this plan do, the baucus plan? what does it do to stem the rising costs of private health insurance? what are your thoughts on this? >> well, i think it does a couple of things. one is that it reduces the costs of administering our health care system. they're certainly moving in the right direction to try to streamline claims processing and other things that we can just cut out of the system. a lot of the paperwork. two is that by having medicare assume some leadership in doing a better job of preventing disease, in managing chronic illness, the key drivers of health care spending increases. the thought is the private sector will adopt some of those

approaches that the medicare program is going to use. so, i think that at the end of the day, there's something in this in terms of cost containment, both for the public plans as well as for private health insurance. >> overall, generally speaking, where are we today? how significant is this point in time in the evolution? look, 60 years we've been trying to do this as a nation. how significant a day is this? >> well, i think today is probably the biggest day we've had in 60 years in health reform. we've had bills passed out of the house. we've had bills passed out of the health -- the one senate committee. and the senate finance committee, the big committee doing this, is going to report hopefully out next week. so, this process has gone far -- further than we did 16 years ago. and certainly i think that we are closer than ever to having comprehensive health care reform that really will improve the quality of care for all americans, really take a lot of the anxiety out of people

worried about losing their insurance coverage, being denied coverage, or having a health insurance plan drop you when you're sick. >> all right. professor thorpe, thank you for your time. and i should mention, you were there, trying to make this happen 16 years ago with the clinton administration. thanks for your time. we really appreciate it, over the last two hours. >> thank you. >> and our apologies, we lost eamon javers. we will certainly be talking to eamon about it over the next couple of days. he's been a terrific help to us as we sort of dissect health care reform moving forward. you're looking at the hall where in just a couple of moments, the chairman of the finance committee, max baucus, will be holding a news conference, alone, to talk about the baucus plan, moving forward for health care reform. hi, may i help you? we're shopping for car insurance, and our friends said we should start here. good friends -- we compare our progressive direct rates, apples to apples, against other top companies, to help you get the best price. how do you do that? with a touch of this button. can i try that?

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top stories now. we are awaiting senator max baucus, the man of this hour, the finance chairman, about to discuss his proposal for overhauling the nation's health care system. no republicans from his so-called gang of six signing on

to the deal so far. baucus' news conference set to begin five minutes. okay, five minutes from now. and you can watch it live right here in the "cnn newsroom." d.c. sniper, john allen muhammad, is set to be excused november 10th. you might remember he was convicted in a series of shootings that terrorized the washington area in 2002. his attorney plans to file an appeal with the u.s. supreme court and ask the governor of virginia for clemency. police have released a yale university employee picked up yesterday in connection with the murder of graduate student annie le. they collected dna samples from the 24-year-old lab technician. police say they are not ready to make an arrest. and are still trying to narrow down the focus. more details and analysis of today's new health reform proposal from our white house and congressional correspondents ahead. i have copd which makes it hard to breathe.

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as we get older, our bodies become... less able to absorb calcium. he recommended citracal. it's a different kind of calcium. calcium citrate. with vitamin d... for unsurpassed absorption, to nourish your bones. senator max baucus is certainly the man of the hour. we are waiting for the chairman

of the senate finance committee to begin his news conference any minute now, we believe. we believe, actually, he is on his way to the room to begin the news conference. as you know, the chairman has laid down his mark for health care reform posted online, and it is 200 pages-plus. we are dissecting it throughout the day here in the "cnn newsroom." we're going to take a quick break. so, what do you think?

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only meineke let's you choose your service, choose your savings. like an oil change for just $19.95. meineke. get a flu shot while you wait for your flight? it is now possible at atlanta's hartsfield-jackson international airport. it will be -- let's stop where we are. senator max baucus, talking about health care reform, his plan. let's go to it live. >> well, first, welcome, everybody. our health care system is simply unsustainable. it's breaking the bank for everyone, from families to businesses to governments. millions of americans today simply cannot afford quality health insurance. in fact, in the past day, another 17,000 people lost coverage. more small