As the debate over health care reform heats up in the Washington, Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., has proposed a plan that other congressional Democrats are describing as a potential bipartisan solution.

North Dakota political leaders and medical providers on Thursday said they are still learning about the proposals in Washington, but said a debate over health care reform is needed.

Conrad's plan, which he introduced this week after numerous group meetings with key senators from both parties, would establish a cooperative system that would be owned by groups of citizens and small businesses.

"I was given the assignment by the group to come up with a compromise to one of the thorniest issues for resolution, that's the issue of a public option," Conrad said on Tuesday. "There needs to be an alternative delivery model in order to provide competition to for-profit insurance companies."

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., told the Associated Press on Thursday that Conrad's proposal "could be key to a bipartisan health bill."

Congressional Republicans have come out in opposition to a proposed "single-payer" option, which would mean the government would pick up the tab to pay for health insurance.

President Barack Obama began to push the issue of health care reform on Thursday, flying to Green Bay, Wis., to talk to voters about his plan to spend $1.5 trillion over the next decade to cover more than 40 million uninsured Americans.

Conrad said health care reform should allow Americans to retain their current insurance plan, noting that another problem with the current system is that people may be paying for a swath of potentially ineffective medical procedures.

"We've got a flaw in the system," Conrad said, adding that something needs to be done about skyrocketing health care premiums.

"Cooperative structure is well known, quite successful," Conrad said. "There are health care cooperatives throughout the country. It meets the desires of one side of the debate to have an alternative delivery model that is not for profit, and on the other hand, that is not controlled by the government."

Conrad also is co-sponsoring a bill with Baucus, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee that will be taking up the brunt of the work on health care reform, that would establish a research institute to study inefficiencies in the health care system as a way to cut unneeded costs.

Don Canton, a spokesman for Republican Gov. John Hoeven, said the governor agrees that health care reform is needed and that he is still reviewing the options that are being debated in Washington.

Canton said Hoeven would oppose the so-called single payer option, adding, "We believe it is important for people to have competition so people have choices to keep down costs."

Denise Kolpack, spokeswoman for North Dakota Blue Cross Blue Shield, the largest health care insurer in the state, said the company is still reviewing proposals stemming from Congress and that the company will have a position when the final proposal emerges, which is expected sometime this summer.

(Reach reporter Brian Duggan at 223-8482 or brian.duggan@bismarcktribune.com)