Note: This is a repost of an item that got pushed off the board by spam and long posts almost as soon as it appeared earlier today. I'd hate for you to miss the point: You may not even have until October to influence the health care bill.

Now it begins.

The Senate Finance Committee, the last of the five congressional committees with jurisdiction over health care reform, supposedly will finish its bill this month. The plan being engineered by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus through his bipartisan Gang of Six is so different in character from the bills already submitted by the other four committees that it is likely to reopen debate on the fundamental nature of health care reform.

The prospects are exceedingly dim that negotiations to hammer out final legislation for consideration in each chamber will produce a well-crafted plan that actually improves health care and controls rising costs for consumers and taxpayers. Yet it is a virtual certainty that some legislation will be sent to the floors of the House and Senate.

The ensuing free-for-alls there could result in total gridlock as Progressives try to rectify a watered-down plan that would generate hundreds of billions of dollars in new revenue for insurance companies, drug makers and hospitals while mandating that citizens carry expensive insurance coverage or face stiff fines.

As the AP reported today:

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., has promised a formal proposal within days and plans to convene a bill-drafting session the week of Sept. 21. The Baucus plan is important for two reasons: It's the only proposal that's been worked out in close consultation with Republicans, and it also seems to be headed in the general direction Obama wants to take.

"It's the logical starting point for negotiations," said Dan Mendelson, president of Avalere Health, an information company serving industry and government clients. An 18-page summary of an early version of the Baucus plan circulated last week.

His proposal is widely seen as making major concessions to industry. There's no government insurance plan to compete with private carriers, and no requirement on employers to provide coverage -- as legislation drafted by House Democrats would provide.

In another significant break with House Democrats, Baucus wouldn't raise taxes on upper-income earners to pay for health care. That should please tax-averse Republicans. Instead, he uses a series of "fees" on medical industries to help pay for his plan.

Needless to say, those fees the AP story mentions--as high as 35 percent--will eventually be passed on to consumers, exacerbating the inflationary spiral of health care costs. So much is wrong with the Baucus plan that I urge you to read the AP story in full.

So as I am prone to suggest: Phone, FAX and email your congressional delegation and flood the Washington office of Sen. Max Baucus before he creates a monster. One last thing, and this is important: If you are a member of another blog, repost this piece there.

The last battle for health care reform is upon us.