MADISON, Wis. -- Key state Democrats want a comprehensive reform package passed in the state budget that would give virtually every one in Wisconsin affordable health insurance -- as well as a new payroll tax.

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Senate Democrats on Monday stirred up a hornet's nest of opposition by revealing a universal health care insurance plan as a budget amendment and then releasing its details just a couple hours before a public hearing, WISC-TV reported.

Senate leaders said that it's all part of forcing leading state Republicans to take action on a critical issue for most state businesses and residents: The high cost of health care.

Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, who is the author of the new universal health reform plan, said that this proposal will give coverage for the uninsured.

"Health providers have been dropping people left and right from their coverage," he said. "Insurance companies are set up to deny. That's not going to happen anymore under 'Healthy Wisconsin: Your Choice, Your Plan.'"

"Healthy Wisconsin: Your Choice, Your Plan" is the senator's plan to provide universal health care coverage for the state. Supporters said that under the plan, around 450,000 residents now without health insurance would get it and at price that they said would be affordable.

At the plan's political debut on Monday, some uninsured workers, farmers, and small and large business owners touted the plan and its goal of giving everyone coverage by having everybody paying a share of the costs.

Deb Carey, the president of New Glarus Brewery, said that she paid $150,000 last year to make sure that her workers were covered.

"As a responsible employer who covers my people's health insurance, I pay higher premiums because of people who don't buy health insurance. This is a necessary change; it is a common sense revolution," she said.

However, such a proposal carries a hefty pricetag in the form of a new payroll tax. The plan's creators estimate its yearly cost would be $15.2 billion a year. They want to raise the money through a new payroll tax on every working person in the state and every employer, WISC-TV reported.

The average worker would pay about 4 percent of their Social Security wages, or $140 a month. The average employer would pay $370 a month per employee, or 10.5 percent of their Social Security payroll, officials said.

One large business that employs 800 in Wausau and Menasha told a crowd of plan supporters that the plan would save it big money and take insurance off the union bargaining table, WISC-TV reported.

But some Republicans and others question the plan's numbers and its need.

Sen. Carol Roessler, R-Oshkosh, said that in a public hearing that the proposal is a dramatic change.

"This is a major overhaul. It is an absolute throw out the health care system as we know it and create a new fashioned plan," she said.

R.J. Pirlot of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce said that he doesn't think the plan resolves core issues that are compelling increasing health care costs.

"It doesn't do really anything to address the root causes of rising health care costs here in state of Wisconsin. It's clearly a massive tax increase on businesses and workers."

Critics called the plan the "biggest tax hike in state history".

However, some Democrats said that the proposal would mean more than $1 billion in savings over what everybody currently spends now. The universal coverage would match that of lawmakers and other state employees. A single deductible is $300; a family one $600.

Democrat backers said that no one could be denied insurance coverage either based on preexisting condition.