WASHINGTON -- A sweeping health care reform bill unveiled by the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday will proceed without the endorsement of U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.

"I am disappointed that deadlines took precedence over agreement of the bipartisan group of Finance Committee members, as we worked on a final health care bill," Enzi said in a statement released shortly after Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., presented his bill Wednesday morning.

The bill release follows months of negotiations among Baucus, Enzi and four other Finance Committee senators dubbed the "Gang of Six" -- Republicans Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Democrats Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico.

The Wyoming Republican said the group has made significant progress, but he remains concerned that the bill would cost too much and wouldn't sufficiently reduce health care costs.

The proposal released Wednesday would require everyone to have health care and would prohibit insurers from charging more to people with serious health problems. The proposal doesn't include the so-called "public option" opposed by many Republicans. Instead, it would create a system of nonprofit member-owned cooperatives, somewhat akin to electric co-ops that exist in many places around the country.

The measure represents the most moderate health care proposal in Congress so far, compared to legislation approved by three committees in the House and the Senate's health panel.

Enzi praised the efforts of Baucus and Grassley, the GOP's ranking member on the Finance Committee, "who have resisted the calls for partisanship in trying to develop a health care proposal that would provide health care coverage for all Americans.

"Unfortunately, there are fundamental issues that we were not able to resolve by the deadline that was set for us," Enzi said. "I am deeply disappointed that we could not take the time to find ways to resolve these issues."

The senator said Baucus' bill doesn't go far enough toward President Barack Obama's goals of improving competition in the insurance marketplace and lowering health care costs for those who currently have insurance. He also said the bill is built on "expanding the unsustainable Medicaid program, which 40 percent of doctors will not accept. Coverage is worthless if you can't see a doctor."

Under the Baucus plan, Medicaid would be expanded, and caps would be placed on patients' yearly health care costs. The plan would be paid for with $507 billion in cuts to government health programs and $349 billion in new taxes and fees, including a tax on high-end insurance plans and fees on insurance companies and medical device manufacturers.

The bill includes provisions to keep illegal immigrants from obtaining health coverage through the new insurance exchanges. The bill also would prevent federal funds from being used to pay for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or if the life of the mother would be endangered.

Enzi said he remains "committed to working on health care reform proposals that will have broad, bipartisan support," but suggested incremental changes instead of sweeping ones.

"The best way to reform our health care system is to do it step by step. That is how you gain the trust of the American people," he said. "Let's start by focusing on the issues where we already have broad, bipartisan agreement."

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