YORK — There’s too much false information being spread around about health care reform, and too much negative reporting on the issue by the media, Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell says.

“A campaign of deliberate misinformation is not new,” said the Maine Democrat, citing a television campaign sponsored by American insurance companies. “But one that has so much paid advertising is.”

Mitchell also took aim at the press, which “reports on those who speak out against health care, not those who are for it.”

Mitchell is a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which Saturday approved a health care reform plan that is far-reaching, but stops short of meeting President Clinton’s goal of universal coverage.

The committee proposal sets a goal of 95 percent coverage in 2002, and calls for a national commission to recommend steps to achieve that target if it isn’t met.

Clinton has promised to veto any bill that falls short of providing coverage for all.

The Senate Finance Committee is the only committee of four reviewing health care reforms that has not embraced universal coverage and a provision requiring employers to pick up most of the costs.

Mitchell and Democratic leaders in the House will spend the next several weeks trying to meld the existing bills into measures that command majorities in the both chambers, and also satisfy Clinton’s bottom-line demand of coverage for all.

At a news conference after the committee vote Saturday, Mitchell said questions about that process were premature.

“You folks are focusing on whether it’s a Chevy or a Ford. We’re focusing on its destination,” he said.

At the same time, he cautioned that no bill would ever provide coverage for everyone in a society as large and diverse as America.