June 17 (Bloomberg) -- The Senate Finance Committee may delay consideration of a health-care overhaul until July as lawmakers work to bring the cost below $1 trillion and reach a bipartisan compromise, panel Chairman Max Baucus said.

Baucus told reporters today he still believes the Senate can pass a plan next month. He previously said he hoped his committee would approve a measure next week, before Congress’s July 4 recess. “It’s too soon to say when we’ll be ready,” Baucus said.

Republican Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona said a delay may complicate efforts to pass a health-care plan before Congress’s August recess. “That was always an ambitious time frame,” said Kyl, the No. 2 Senate Republican.

President Barack Obama is pressing Congress to send him a final bill in October revamping the health-care system to expand coverage to the approximately 46 million uninsured Americans and bring down soaring costs. Presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs said today that Congress remains on track to pass a health plan before the end of the year.

Baucus spoke with reporters after members of both parties on the finance committee met behind closed doors.

Democrats are advancing legislation that would require all Americans to have health insurance, limit insurers’ ability to deny coverage, create online exchanges for individuals to purchase policies and require employers to provide health benefits to workers or pay a penalty.

Expanding Coverage

They also are weighing whether to expand coverage by creating a Medicare-like government program to compete with private insurers, or turn instead to non-profit cooperatives.

The task of crafting legislation became tougher this week when the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office delivered an informal cost estimate for options before the finance committee. The estimated price tag was $1.6 trillion, said Senator Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat.

The CBO this week also said portions of a separate plan introduced by Senator Edward Kennedy would cost $1 trillion and would only expand coverage by 16 million people.

To contact the reporters on this story: Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net; Nicole Gaouette in Washington at ngaouette@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 17, 2009 15:08 EDT