The long-awaited health care overhaul plan by Max Baucus, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee is now out: The plan has no public insurance option and, according to early reports, no Republican supporters.
Meanwhile, the Globe reports that health insurance rates are going up this year, and a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that family health premiums rose 5% this year.
Share:
This entry is filed under News Stories.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Comments
Anyone surprised at this headline? This was entirely predictable. Back in May, it was clear that not a single member of the GOP “Party of No” would vote for any bill. If the public knew it, then Baucus and the other members of his “Gang Of Six” obviously knew it from the start as well.
Thus, one must ask: what was the real purpose of nearly six months of secretive haggling in Baucus’ smoke-filled committee room?
The plain inference to be drawn is that the hide-the-ball Baucus negotiations were not about pressuring Republicans “upward” to accept reform that would extend health care to more Americans.
Rather, Baucus must have been pressuring “downward” the other two Democrats in the “Gang Of Six,” to get them to agree to a more reactionary bill designed primarily to cut health care costs by denying care, gutting Medicare, etc.
If the Baucus bill defines the parameters of the upcoming Congressional floor debate, that has very, very bad implications for the Democrats in 2010 and 2012.
The grim political portents for the Democrats could have been much different, had party leaders only listened to the voters who carried the Party into office by a landslide just 10 months ago.
When we went to the polls in November we were demanding robust, universal Health Care For All. The President and Party leaders heard us. Then they decided to design a “reform” package that throws universal coverage under the bus, entirely against the expectations of voters. That “reform” is all about cutting costs, not defending Americans’ right to necessary health care.
Americans will see an outcome defined by the Baucus “Gang Of Six” as an unacceptable failure, and will be looking to make those responsible for it pay at the polls.