The latest dirt on the debate over health care reform, and attempts to tax employer-provided health benefits, taken directly from the National Association of Health Underwriters’ “Custom Briefings”:

The Wall Street Journal(7/8, Hitt, Adamy, subscription required) reports, “Senators are cooling to a proposal that would impose a first-ever tax on employer-provided health insurance and are giving renewed attention to taxes on the wealthy to pay for a sweeping health care overhaul.” Senators including Kent Conrad (D-ND) “said Tuesday that the idea of taxing health benefits is unpopular with voters, though they stressed that it hasn’t been completely swept off the bargaining table.”

        According to the AP(7/8, Espo) the setback comes as the White House readies for “a triumphant announcement for Wednesday that the nation’s hospitals had agreed to give up $155 billion in future Medicare and Medicaid payments to help defray the cost of legislation Obama wants.” On Tuesday, “several Democratic officials said the party’s leadership told [Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) that they were unhappy with any tax on benefits — a key component of bipartisan negotiations — and expressed fears it could lose more votes on their side of the aisle than it gained among Republicans.”

        Moreover, a “compilation of four polls, discussed at a Finance Committee meeting Tuesday, found that at least 59 percent of the public opposes taxing benefits,” the Washington Times(7/8, Haberkorn) reports. Sen. Baucus, however, maintains that “he doesn’t want to see benefits taxed completely but is in favor of taxing the most expensive plans.”

        The Washington Post (7/8, Murray) notes that concerns about the health benefits tax “are especially pronounced among new senators from swing states.” Those who benefit most from the current health benefit tax exclusion include “middle-class workers and many union members who receive generous employer-provided coverage.” It is “the biggest loophole on the Internal Revenue Service’s books, worth an estimated $1 trillion over 10 years.”

        Sen. Conrad told CNN (7/8) that lawmakers are now considering other possible options to pay for health reform. While “taxing sugary drinks, something House Democrats have pushed, is out because ‘there are a lot of members who don’t like it,’” according to Conrad, “lowering tax deductions for wealthier Americans, something advocated by President Obama, is still under consideration.”

        CQ HealthBeat(7/8, Reichard, subscription required) points out that Finance Committee Chairman Baucus “is under pressure to unveil a proposal this week or early next week if his panel is to successfully mark up a package in time for it to be blended with a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee package so that the Senate can approve health overhaul legislation before the August recess. Baucus declined Tuesday to predict when his ‘chairman’s mark’ will be ready.”

        Roll Call(7/8, Drucker, Pierce) and The Politico(7/8, Brown) note that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has begun pressuring Baucus to drop the health benefits tax proposal, “and stop chasing Republican votes on a massive health care reform bill,” according to Roll Call. However, “the pressure from Reid to change course threatens to disrupt the delicate bipartisan negotiations that have been going on for months inside the Finance Committee,” the Politico adds. “Reid’s move could also endanger Democratic hopes of sticking to a strict timeline aimed at passing a bill in the Senate before the August recess.” Bloomberg News(7/8, Litvan) also covers the story.