Thank You, Baucus! Keep Pushing for Health Care Reform

Why the hell would I thank Max? (0.00 / 0)

Sorry, Max -- as long as you keep saying "everything is on the table" and then go on to say "except for single-payer," you won't be getting my support.

Max has a long record of mediocrity: inheritance tax, bankruptcy bill, big pharma, Bush's tax cuts, Iraq ... And he's at it again with his health care plan.

---

by: pete talbot @ Wed Mar 04, 2009 at 23:09:05 PM UTC

second that pete...thanks but no thanks max... (0.00 / 0)

i could add more failures of character; in the rubber spine category- wilderness a 25 year drought for montana thanks to max caving to all the special interests. as for health care reform- insurance robbery accounts for over 1/3 of every dollar spent. i am sure lots of that cash gets used to reelect max and his many many bedfellows...too bad that the public welfare always takes the backseat while those who play the system profit.

metcalf and mansfield must be spinning in their graves at the mediocrity, the lack of leadership and the many wasted opportunities to grow a back bone of montana's current senior senator. max just doesn't have the calcium to grow one.

struckman- as bugs said; "what a maroon."

United we stand, divided we fall.

power to the polite people!

---

by: wolverine6 @ Thu Mar 05, 2009 at 04:09:13 AM UTC

I agree (0.00 / 0)

I don't trust Baucus...when all is said and done, the insurance companies will come out ahead. Max had better put "single payer" on the table, or he'll get little support outside the Repubs..New Democrats and Blue Dog Democrats..

---

by: big sage @ Thu Mar 05, 2009 at 14:25:44 PM UTC

He's looking for 80 votes (0.00 / 0)

The only way he'll get to that is by teeing everybody off. This is the kind of bend-over pissing match that Max loves--the more people that are upset with the legislation, the better job he feels that he has done compromising.

The way to look at this, Max, is if you are willing to not get 20 votes, which 20 votes are those? Far right, or on the left? I'll be looking to see who starts compromising their principles out of the gate, starting with true universality: everybody is covered one way or the other, no exceptions. NO mandate: those who chose not to enroll in a plan get auto enrolled the second they step in a doctors office, or ER. No IRS involvement: no using tax credits intended for health care to pay off tax offsets first; no penalties for those incapable of, or declining to enroll.

Those 5 principles should be the bottom line for any progressive support of health care reform:

1) True universality: all U.S. citizens get to participate in the program.
2) No mandate/penalties
3) Auto enrollment at point of delivery
4) No means testing
5) No IRS/tax credit shenanigans

If Max doesn't give us this, then I'll know which 20 Senators won't be voting for his legislation. Actually, I don't think there's a way that Baucus will ever get 80 votes. And it is ridiculous of him to set that as the bar. To get 80 votes on any piece of legislation this Congress means solving the political mess that the country is in. And as long as Rush Limbaugh is calling the president out to debate with the conservative movement cheering him  on, and republicans scurrying for cover everywhere, it just ain't gonna happen.

Get real Max. Get a spine.

---

by: JC @ Thu Mar 05, 2009 at 18:57:50 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

tinkering with a failed health care system won't cut it... (0.00 / 0)

this thing needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. the insurance profiteers who colluded to defraud americans for decades under the current unregulated greedy private system is an even bigger failure than the unregulated banks on wall street.

we don't need some glory hog slush fund senator like baucus to screw on a new gas cap, send it through a car wash and call the health system fixed. we need people who will really gut this thing out to the frame and rebuild it so it is efficient fair and it needs to work for once. the only people who benefit from private insurance plans are the insurers. the insured are turned away for every reason they can think of. of course, this never happens to senators and their families. nothing but the best care america can offer for them. so they don't see the problem.

United we stand, divided we fall.

power to the polite people!

---

by: wolverine6 @ Fri Mar 06, 2009 at 05:13:36 AM UTC

Medicare for all.... (0.00 / 0)

What does Baucus have against Medicare?  He has never said anything bad about the program, yet can't seem to say the word. Cost control should be a priority, which leaves out most existing corporate options.  Please, no repeat of the pharma fiasco. We own AIG, so, why not open up a public health insurance division for supplemental care as the rest this worthless entity collapses.

---

by: steve kelly @ Fri Mar 06, 2009 at 23:15:24 PM UTC

Dear Max (0.00 / 0)

What do you suppose the public would prefer if it was put to a vote? Do the majority really want to pay every third health care dollar to the insurance companys? If you agree this is preposterous then is it only politically impossible to pass single payer. If the rape-public-cans are sucessful in stoping single payer, will they loose seats in 2010? Would support for the only proven (worldwide) plan (single payer) make you more, or less vulnerable in 2010? Represent your constituents, ignore the vested (well funded) greedy, interests! If it can't be passed this session, there will be fewer opponets in the next session. There has been a huge change in the public perception, since the visable collapse of the supply side scam, and exposure of rape-public-can disregard of voter wishes. This and card check, and all other efforts to reverse the damage of 30 years of rape-public-can rule WILL be rewarded in the voting booth.

---

by: reggiewhitefish @ Sun Mar 08, 2009 at 20:34:05 PM UTC