WASHINGTON - If Republican Sen. Richard Burr has become a proponent of universal health care, the former businessman is reluctant to claim the catchphrase.

"I don't like that word," Burr said Thursday, hours before introducing legislation that seeks to make sure every American has health insurance -- a cause long championed by the political left.

Burr's bill would encourage families to find their own health coverage, and then help them pay the bills through refundable tax credits of up to $5,400 a family. The proposal could bring health coverage to the North Carolina residents now without it.

Advocates for the uninsured say Burr's proposal could jeopardize not only low-income families and chronically ill patients, but also the employment-based health-care system that now covers 65 percent of Americans. Burr's measure would begin taxing the value of health-care plans that many employers now offer workers, a controversial provision sure to face opposition. Such benefits are now tax-free, both for the employer and the worker.

The legislation would offer special tax credits to residents to help cover the cost of health insurance and other health bills: $2,160 per person, up to a maximum of $5,400 per family.

Burr, a member of the Senate health committee, said his plan would level the field among residents. He described a Robin Hood-like bureaucracy that would take money from those with rich health-care plans to help pay for those who have nothing.

"Millions of Americans who are currently uninsured would have access to coverage in the free market," Burr said. He said the plan would give patients buying power by allowing them to hunt for their own, personalized coverage.

He said the tax credit would cover an employment family health benefit worth up to $15,000.

"That's a pretty generous benefit," Burr said.

Burr is a longtime friend of the health-care industry. Health-care professionals have been, as an industry, the top donors to his federal campaigns during his career in the Senate and House of Representatives, giving a total of nearly $922,000 since 1994.

He also received $585,000 from pharmaceutical companies, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit agency that tracks campaign spending in Washington.

Current kids' program

The "Every American Insured Health Act" legislation comes amid the debate this week in both the House and the Senate over the renewal of a states-run children's health insurance program. Republican leaders, including President Bush, want to keep the program as is.

Democrats, however, are trying to expand the program to cover 3.3 million additional children.

It also comes as the idea of universal health care continues to consume political debate. Polls show health care as one of the top concerns of voters. Democratic presidential candidates are being pushed to introduce their health-care plans. And several states, including North Carolina, are considering state legislation to cover uninsured residents.

Burr said he and a handful of other Republican senators were asked by GOP leaders to develop an alternative to the children's health program.

After working several months on the bill, he said, the group decided "not to try to fit a round peg into a square hole" and came up with a different idea entirely.

Dismantling system

But Kathleen Stoll, director of health policy for Families USA, an advocacy group in Washington, said the idea isn't terribly new. Republicans have long been working to dismantle the employment-based health system that most Americans now use, she said.

"When we eliminate that tax break for ... [the system], we should do that with extreme caution," said Stoll, who hadn't seen the legislation because it had not yet been filed.

Advocates for the uninsured fear that if employers lose their tax breaks to offer health insurance, they'll drop the benefit altogether.

And for many families, $5,400 won't buy a lot of health insurance.

"Even a child can quickly be paying $600 a month" if they have a health problem, said Sorien Schmidt, senior vice president for Action for Children North Carolina, an advocacy group in Raleigh. "It becomes unaffordable to families with moderate incomes or even middle incomes."

Their plan comes as many small businesses in North Carolina have chosen to drop health coverage altogether, according to Families USA, as other employers are cutting their benefits or raising co-payments and deductibles.

A report from the group issued last fall showed that North Carolina companies pay, on average, $8,754 for their contributions to family health insurance. Workers' portions averaged $3,358 last year, an 85 percent jump from 2000.