As early as today, the Senate Finance Committee could vote on a plan from more liberal Democrats, to replace health care cooperatives with a government run health insurance option that's designed to compete directly with insurance companies.

Liberal Democrats are expected to lose in the committee, as Sen. Max Baucus, the chairman of the Finance panel will likely vote against the plans as well.

He argues the votes simply aren't there in the Senate for a public insurance option, and that including it in a final bill will ensure that Democratic moderates and even a few Republicans won't vote for a health reform bill.

"I'm a firm believer in the public option," said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) last week on the opening day of work in the Finance Committee.

But Schumer knows the votes aren't there in the committee, and probably aren't there on the Senate floor.

And at this point, there may not even be enough votes in the House to approve a bill with a public health insurance option.

Today is the start of what Baucus hopes will be a three or four day run to the finish of the health care reform debate in his committee.  I'm not sure that's the case, but we'll see.

Democrats really want to get that process done, so they can start figuring out what kind of bill to put on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

Will there be a public option in that bill?  The rumblings in the hallways of the Congress seem to indicate the answer is no, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid still hasn't made up his mind.

One thing is for sure - even if the public option was tossed overboard - it wouldn't magically give Democrats a majority on health care reform, because so many liberals argue that it is integral to any reform effort.