Baucus Bill: Health Reform That Isn't

[humbled_opinion]

Source: Huffington Post

With the long-awaited release of the Baucus health plan, which is said to have Obama's approval, the fix is in. Billions of taxpayer dollars will be thrown at the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, much of it diverted from Medicare and Medicaid (despite Obama's protestations that he would not raid Medicare to shore up the private system). We'll simply pour more money into a system that's already shown itself capable of absorbing whatever we put into it without providing anything like commensurate health care.

Look at the bare bones of the plan. Americans will be required to buy health insurance at whatever price the companies choose to charge, many using government subsidies. Businesses will have to contribute or be fined. Drug companies will still be able to charge whatever they like for drugs, and continue to jack up prices at several times the inflation rate. In short, the government will deliver to the insurance and pharmaceutical industries millions more paying customers, with virtually no curbs on their profiteering. The "public option" was first gutted, then all but dropped.



Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marcia-angell-md/baucus-bill-health-reform_b_293093.html

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marcia-angell-md/baucus-bill-health-reform_b_293093.html

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I am sorry but this bill is a non-starter. Obama would be wise to steer clear of it. Why won't the President take a leadership stand once and for all and produce a Mandated Single Payer plan. Stop all this uncessary crap. You can't force people to buy insurance that they don't want or can't afford. You can't tell me what to do with my money either if I don't want insurance I don't have to pay for it. Howerver, you can offer a full coverage Government plan. Then if you take the Medicare tax that you take out of my paycheck now and you MANDATE employers to pay for it so why isn't that the PLAN.

You will never force Americans to buy insurance plans that is just plain, Unamerican.

[polichick]

1. If the prez really supports this bill, we've been had. nt

[humbled_opinion]

2. No I don't think he does either.

Thats why he should steer clear of it and not get wrapped up somehow saying that he likes it.

[LSparkle]

3. Agreed. Hopefully Obama really WAS as disappointed as reported ...

and is just waiting until the appropriate moment to
come out against what Baucus eventually came up with.

[emulatorloo]

4. He doesn't support it as is. It is going NOWHERE "as is". Kerry and Rockefeller are

on the Finance Committee too and they have pretty much sworn to 'fix" this piece of crap with amendments, etc.

Also there are about 4 or 5 bills floating around in congress, including the one from Kennedy's committee. Baucus Bill will not see the light of day as it is.

[nyy1998]

5. While a single-payer system would be nice

It's just totally unrealistic from a political standpoint. If they can't even get the public option into the bill what makes you think they could get a single-payer system in there?

[humbled_opinion]

6. What makes me think that they could is the fact that

When a large majority of this country was screaming for the last President to remove our troops from Iraq, his war of choice, he decided that he didn't have to do what the people wanted him to do and he sent more troops in as in "surge" now that made him unpopular but in retrospect it appears that it was the right thing to do.

Obama can do whatever he wants, Democrats control the Congress, Single Payer government run health care is the RIGHT THING TO DO.

So he needs to just DO IT.

[grahamhgreen]

7. No, that's not true. Polls show the majority support single payer, not crapsurance bills.

We are not stupid enough to fall for these crapsurance bills that are on the table - uh, WERE on the table.

[grahamhgreen]

8. Obama on "This Week"- "My critics would say that THE plan is just THE WRONG ONE"

Since they were talking about the Baucus plan as THE plan, I would assume that this is the plan he supports.

They guy is out in right field somewhere - why is he sucking up to these people who are trashing him from the right?

In essence, the plan is a tax you pay to a privat corporation for a service they only deliver 70% of the time on average.