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The Senate Finance Committee chaired by Montana Democrat Max Baucus voted on Tuesday to approve its proposal on health care legislation. The plan, which notably omits a public option, moved forward by way of a 14-9 vote. Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine was the only Republican on the committee to cast her support for the so-called “Baucus Bill.” Response to the news of the Finance Committee’s long-term plan for the nation’s health care system has been immediate. Physicians for a National Health Program criticized the Baucus Bill as one that “preserves all the systemic deficiencies that we see in our present health care financing model.” About thirty labor unions sponsored a full page ad demanding “real health care reform and nothing less” in yesterday’s edition of the Washington Post, Capitol Hill, and USA Today newspapers. Today, nearly a hundred citizens and health care providers will be turning to acts of civil disobedience across the country voicing their opposition to the lack of real reform by risking arrest in sit-downs at insurance company offices. Legislatively, the Baucus Bill is expected be combined with a competing Senate Health Committee version before being brought to the floor to face amendments in the coming weeks.

GUESTS: Michael Lighty, Director of Public Policy with the California Nurses Association, Sam Pullen is with the group, Mobilization for Health Care for All

Activists are gathering this morning from 10 am to 12 noon at 801 S. Figueroa (corner of 8th and Figueroa) in downtown LA to stage a sit-in at the Anthem Bluecross offices. For more information, visit www.mobilizeforhealthcare.org.