Task force plan mandates health coverage; Gov. Carnahan's panel puts cost of covering uninsured at $240 million. (Gov. Mel Carnahan)

Gov. Mel Carnahan is considering two health care reform plans -- one aimed at the uninsured and the other placing all Missourians in large managed care buying groups.

The latter plan -- favored by most task force members -- mandates that all employers provide insurance coverage or face a 7 percent payroll tax. The alternative plan doesn't mandate coverage, but provides tax incentives to employers. Many of the details of both plans, however, are still to come.

The reform blueprints were released Tuesday by the Missouri Department of Public Health and will help form legislation Carnahan plans to introduce in the next session of the General Assembly, said Carnahan spokesman Chris Sifford.

The plans were drafted at a whirlwind pace by the 48-member Health Policy Working Group appointed by Carnahan in mid-July.

"With this plan, we are moving from a health insurance system to a health care system. It will be the provider and the consumer in a collaborative arrangement," said …