HEALTH CARE . . . MODERATES BREAK LOGJAM

A bipartisan group of Senators drafted a health-care compromise plan that could jump-start the Clinton reform effort. Rhode Island Republican John Chafee and other Senators stopped short of key Clinton goals -- including the disputed employer mandate that would require businesses to foot most of the bill. But the group proposed insurance reforms and market strategies to insure most Americans. And what if the new proposal doesn't work? Its sponsors say that if 95 percent of Americans don't have health insurance by 2002, a special commission will decide how to boost the number, followed by a congressional vote on the remedy. It's not exactly what the Clintons wanted. But TIME Washington correspondent Dick Thompson says the White House will be cheered by the issue's forward movement. One other reason for Clinton to cheer: Democratic majority leader and presidential ally George Mitchell will have a chance to change the bill completely before it hits the Senate floor.