The basics were these:

The McCain health plan proposes three funda­mental reforms that would change the financing of health care and reform the health insurance market to give families more control of personal health care decisions:

Equal tax treatment for health coverage. The Senator would replace the special tax breaks for employer-based health insurance with a univer­sal system of health care tax credits for the pur­chase of health insurance. These health care tax credits of $5,000 for a family and $2,500 for an individual would be indexed annually for infla­tion and would be available to Americans regard­less of income, employment, or tax liability. Even prominent critics concede that such a tax change is a principled and far-reaching proposal.[2]  This change alone would lay the groundwork for unprecedented consumer choice and competi­tion in the health care sector.

Health insurance competition on a national scale. Currently, only federal workers and retir­ees in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) benefit from competition among private health insurance companies on a national scale. In sharp contrast with almost every other sector of the economy, competition across state lines in health insurance is virtually nonexistent. The McCain health plan would change this by allowing individuals and families to buy health plans domiciled and regulated in other states. This would both expand personal options for affordable coverage and force health insurance companies to compete directly for consumers' dollars on an unprecedented scale.

Federal assistance to the states to cover vul­nerable populations. The Senator envisions a large role for state innovation and experimenta­tion in health care financing and delivery, but he would provide safety-net funding to ensure cov­erage of the most vulnerable populations: the hard-to-insure and the uninsurable. McCain's Guaranteed Access Plan would provide federal assistance to the states to secure access to health insurance coverage through state high-risk pools or similar arrangements. His plan would also encourage expanding coverage options for Med­icaid enrollees and veterans.
Beyond these major reforms of health care financing and insurance, Senator McCain would also promote specific initiatives to increase the value and reduce the cost of services that individuals and families receive for their health care dollars. These initiatives include promoting the use of health infor­mation technology (IT), care coordination and dis­ease management for chronic diseases, transparency of price and quality information, broad application of payment reforms for doctors and hospitals in government health programs, greater use of generic drugs, and use of alternative and less expensive medical facilities for routine care, such as walk-in clinics. He also supports enacting medical liability reform to reduce frivolous lawsuits and defensive medicine in the medical profession.

Our history teaches us otherwise. No self-respecting liberal today would support Franklin Roosevelt's original Social Security Act. It excluded agricultural workers -- a huge part of the economy in 1935, and one in which Latinos have traditionally worked. It excluded domestic workers, which included countless African Americans and immigrants. It did not cover the self-employed, or state and local government employees, or railroad employees, or federal employees or employees of nonprofits. It didn't even cover the clergy.

So don't count this health care bill passing now and then being substantially revised in the next 1 to 3 years. By then, there will be more important issues on their agenda and they'd be hard-pressed to even get it heard.

The public option argument is something of a false one but for other reasons. Largely because the public options currently outlined could collapse before covering anyone.

This is why I think it needs some form of pre-population.  Any form of pre-population will reduce start-up costs and increase the chances of it surviving.