Baucus Unveils Health Care Plan With No Co-ops or Public Option

[ProSense]

Baucus Unveils Health Care Plan With No Co-ops or Public Option

Brian Beutler

After months of frustrating deliberations, and a threat from the White House that President Obama would write his own legislation, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus has finally circulated a draft of a health care bill--one that contains neither a co-op plan nor a public option.

The committee was expected to propose creating a system of privately run, regional, health care co-operatives in lieu of a public option, but Baucus has eschewed even that compromise. According to the New York Times, Baucus' plan is calculated to win the support of Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME). But Snowe supports a public option affixed to a so-called "trigger mechanism," raising questions about why this plan doesn't at least propose something along those lines.

One potential answer is that this legislation--if it passes the Finance Committee--will have to be reconciled with Senate HELP committee legislation, which does include a public option. And it can be argued, perhaps, that the half way point between a public option and no public option is a triggered public option.

The Baucus plan also includes weaker subsidies than the HELP committee proposed, raising some concern that, if enacted, it would require people of modest means to spend a significant percentage of their income on expensive private insurance.

The Dems need to strip Baucus of his chairmanship. He's a lousy negotiator and a tool for the insurance companies.


On edit: This does move the process forward, and I disagree with Brian Beutler. IMO, this makes it easier to reconcile the bills to include a public option.

[Bluzmann57]

1. And I bet Grassley still won't like it.

n/t

[skipos]

8. Exactly. Democrats=Charlie Brown, Republicans=Lucy, bipartisanship=football

I wish I was handy with photoshop.

Democrats water things down in hopes of "compromise," and Republicans still don't vote for it.

[niceypoo]

19. Republicans wont vote on it, period

It is a waste of time even talking to them.

[FreakinDJ]

2. Then whats the point

[ProSense]

3. I'd say the point is

Baucus is no longer a factor.

[katandmoon]

4. For god's sake, whatever you do, don't make rock bottom shitty the enemy of shitty!

[debbierlus]

14. Good one.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

5. "Balk-us maximus"

Def of balk of a horse, mule - to stop short and stubbornly refuse.

Baucus doesn't have a clue.

[xchrom]

6. quelle surprise. nt

[debbierlus]

7. He did it so the trigger would be the compromise - give up everything

And, then, make a huge major deal out of accepting a bullshit trigger as some type of 'compromise'. The dems then can pretend to act as if they fought for something....

It is disgusting and obvious.

I don't think the dems (with the few exceptions, we all know who they are) understand they are about to lose the people. If they think they will keep power by betraying their base (which happens to be the MAJORITY), they are sadly mistaken.

This is sickening.

[Diamonique]

10. Harumph!

"And, then, make a huge major deal out of accepting a bullshit trigger as some type of 'compromise'."

This is why we should have started out with single-payer. The public option would have then been the compromise.

[ProSense]

15. It's not obvious. Baucus wimped out after stalling. If he wanted a trigger he'd have included one.

More likely than not, he couldn't get the votes to pass it with co-ops or a trigger, and the deadline was fast approaching.

Once the bill passes out of his committee, the process is out of his hands.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

9. In other words, boon for the health care industry

Forcing folks like me to pay them so they can deny every office visit, every prescription, and dilly dally with the pennies they will pay for my hundreds of dollars every month. I know. I file insurance claims for a doctor's office. Our congress is the best Insurance company money can buy.

[Lasher]

11. I'm for stripping Baucus of his chairmanship.

I'm also for having no more than one Blue Dog on any committee. But committee assignments are virtually carved in granite until January 2011.

[stray cat]

12. It does expand medicare to cover people approx 144% above poverty line

it caps out of pocket expenses and charges insurance companies extra fees to cover the uninsured.

[ProSense]

13. The tax on insurance companies is Kerry's proposal. Look at what Baucus originally offered:

On Monday, Obama met with Douglas Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office, and a handful of economists to "make sure we had exhausted all the possibilities that could help on the long-term deficit picture," Orszag said. Elmendorf delivered a serious blow last week to the House effort, along with a separate Senate health committee bill, when he testified that the measures could raise long-term health costs.

Orszag also said the White House is open to a proposal by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), a Finance Committee member, to tax insurers for very generous health policies. The idea is a variation on a provision that Baucus, Grassley and others on the committee had pushed: to tax beneficiaries who receive generous policies through their employers.

Obama staunchly opposed taxing beneficiaries as a candidate, and on Monday he threatened to veto a bill that targets individuals. But Orszag said the White House was open to the Kerry alternative, noting a fee on high-value policies would "create an incentive for companies to create more efficient plans."

A senior House leadership aide said Democratic lawmakers there were keenly interested in the Kerry provision, along with other revenue measures with consensus support in the Finance Committee, to replace the wealth surtax that Baucus and others have already declared dead on arrival. "Our guys want to see some movement there," the aide said. "They're loath to vote on a tax increase if it is not going anywhere in the Senate."

link

Health-Insurer Tax Gets ‘Intense Look’ in Senate, Lawmakers Say

[freddie mertz]

16. Here's the NY Times link

It is somewhat hard to find on the site.

This does indeed look like a non-starter.

Let us hope.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/07/health/policy/07health.html?_r=1

[Phx_Dem]

17. Who can be surprised that Baucus is a selfish asshole. n/t

[S_E_Fudd]

18. Worse than nothing...nt