GOP SENATORS UNVEIL PLAN FOR HEALTH CARE SYSTEM.(Main)

Byline: Cox News Service

Senate Republicans, saying they were prepared to reform the nation's health-care system regardless of the Bush administration's hesitancy, Thursday unveiled their long-awaited proposal.

The bill by 17 Republican senators was introduced two days after Democratic Sen. Harris Wofford's 10- point victory in Pennsylvania on a platform stressing national health insurance shook up the political establishment.

Sen. John Chafee of Rhode Island, who has headed a 34-member GOP task force on the health-care issue for the past 15 months, said Wofford's victory had nothing to do with the timing of the bill's introduction.

Thus …