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Tasked with finding bipartisan support for healthcare reform, the Senate will use this week, as well as its month-long recess, to explore ways to lower the price tag on the current legislation, said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY.) during a conference call with reporters Monday.

“Many are asking, ‘how are you gonna pay for it?’ The number one way we’re gonna pay for it is by cutting costs," said Schumer, a member of the Senate Finance Committee.

Schumer disclosed that his committee, led by Chairman Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), wants the bill to include provisions such as care bundling and value-based purchasing, items he believes will lower the bill’s cost to under $900 billion and will ensure that the system it creates will not be based on a ‘fee for service’ model.

“We’re gonna make sure that doctors and hospitals are awarded based on [patient] outcomes,” pledged Schumer.

Baucus, said Schumer, has told the committee that he wants a bipartisan compromise on the legislation reached by no later then September 15th, a timeline that Schumer called “more than fair.”

“Six weeks should be enough to sort things out,” said Schumer, who added that the Senate’s goal is to “have the bill passed and signed by the President by the end of the year.”

However, Schumer and his Democratic colleagues will face fierce opposition to reform efforts in the coming weeks from Republicans who argue that a government-run healthcare system will ration care to patients and ultimately, will lead to a system of ‘socialized’ medicine. In addition, certain conservative Democrats are worried that the high cost of reform will lead to tax increases on most Americans, a concern that certainly was not put to rest over the weekend when Larry Summers, the Chairman of President Obama’s National Economic Council, told a cable news program that "It's never a good idea to absolutely...rule things out no matter what."

To that end, Schumer explained that Democrats in the Senate are working on contingency plans to move the legislation forward in the event that a bipartisan consensus can't be reached. Yet aside from suggesting that Democrats might consider using budget reconciliation as a means of lowering the number of votes required to block a filibuster on the floor, Schumer declined to reveal specifics on what such plans would involve, insisting that “no matter what happens, we’re gonna enact healthcare reform by the end of the year.”

Schumer explained that the bill’s public option provision, a key item in President Obama’s reform wish-list, could be scrapped in the quest for bipartisanship.

“I believe very strongly in the public option, I’m gonna fight for it.....but no one’s drawing any lines in the sand yet,” said Schumer.

The Senator was also asked to address concerns that Congress’s failure to plan accordingly for it’s “Cash For Clunkers” program, which will require a Senate vote to supply $2 billion in additional funds after the program ran out of money, meant that it wouldn’t be able to handle healthcare reform effectively.

Replied Schumer, “there were some computer problems....those problems will be straightened out,” adding that the car rebate program and healthcare reform are “apples and oranges.”

“Healthcare [reform] is totally different,” said Schumer. “Yes, it’s hard to do, we know that...but the two are not analogous at all.”