Has Baucus misplayed his hand?
By John Amato Wednesday Sep 09, 2009 3:40pm
All day I've been hearing how stupid Max Baucus was to release his plan this week which is basically the same bill he leaked back in June. Chuck Todd was wondering why he took so long to produce nothing new. Suddenly the lead Baucus Dogs' bill isn't the be all and end all.
Todd and Andrea Mitchell were saying that Baucus still has a role, but he screwed up by taking so long. He lost his leverage. We'll see, but it was fascinating watching the media turn on the the king of the gang of six.
And now it appears that Liz Fowler has her hand in the Senate Finance bill.
Max Baucus' plan had the name of Liz Fowler, a former WellPoint VP who now works for the Finance Committee, in the metadata. When you have WellPoint personnel instrumental in writing the laws, you get little provisions like this:
Interstate Sale of Insurance. Starting in 2015, states may form “health care choice compacts” to allow for the purchase of non-group health insurance across state lines. Such compacts may exist between two or more states. Once compacts have been formed, insurers would be allowed to sell policies in any state participating in the compact. Insurers selling policies through a compact would only be subject to the laws and regulations of the state where the policy is written or issued.
This is something that conservatives have been begging to do for years. Even the most outgunned conservative on a talking head debate can vomit up "let people take their insurance across state lines to increase competition!" It sounds reasonable. But there's a very good reason why it would quickly turn into a nightmare, and you can see it in the examples of Delaware and South Dakota.
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Consumer Watchdog jumped on this today, claiming that this race to the bottom could be expanded...read on
Now Baucus is saying he'll go it alone without Republican support. So why was there a delay if that's the case? Grassley has been acting like an ass the whole time.
Max Baucus is getting serious. Just a few hours before President Obama is scheduled to address a joint session of Congress, the Finance Committee chairman announced that the committee would be moving forward with a health care reform bill - with or without the GOP.
The announcement followed a morning meeting with the so-called Gang of Six. A source with knowledge of the situation said that Baucus told the two other Democrats and three Republicans that he will be putting out a "Chairman's Mark" by the middle of next week whether he has Republican support or not. (A Chairman's Mark is a bill written by the chairman of the committee.)
Amanda Marcotte understands what's happening. I only wish the media would do their job.
It’s obvious that people who show up screaming about how they want the government out of their Medicare and who go into a faint because they heard that the health care bill has no provision to ban abortion aren’t people that you can respond to in any way. They can’t compromise or understand the concept. They’re too busy struggling against reality itself.
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It’s the people who are putting corporate profits ahead of human lives who need to explain themselves. They’re the ones who should be asked why corporate profits count more than lives. They’re the ones who should be asked why working class citizens should be forced to decide between paying for an insurance bill or paying their rent in order to make sure that no insurance company executive goes without a fresh supply of yachts and fancy cars. They should be forced to explain why insurance company executive yachts count more than your ability to avoid homelessness, or your ability to have a perfectly treatable illness actually treated.
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Wellpoint sucks. I'll die before they ever get a penny of my money.
September 09, 2009
Express Scripts Inc. (ESRX), working toward closing its planned purchase of health insurer WellPoint Inc.'s (WLP) in-house pharmacy benefits management, or PBM, operation, won't stop considering other potential acquisitions.
(WellPoint had been ordered in January to stop marketing and enrollment for its Medicare plans because of violations of federal regulations, including denying seniors access to prescription drugs.)
Has he been hangin' wit Michael Duvall?
hand....if he spent 5 months wrangling with recalcitrant children repubs and got nothing --he should have cut bait in July..Had a bill out of committee by recess and given the President something to defend... He did not --they-congress- did not --all failed at the job they were elected to do..
You asked some great question... why indeed are company profits and executives' yachts more important than people's health, lives, and livelihoods?? Those in "power" need their collective a$$es kicked right up around their ears!
Our culture has lost its moral compass and looking to any politician is NOT going to help find it.
http://drudgereport.com/flashwc.htm
We must first deal with the Senate because there is no way the House is going to move on any bill until the Senate goes first. This happened during the Clinton administration which caused Clinton to lose favor with Congress because Democrats in the House were targeted as failing their constituents when the health reform bill failed.
The Sludge Report is not news.
OH MAGOO. You've done it AGAIN!
Max NOT RELEVANT....AMF...
the new (R)ahmocrats are going to give us mandated insurance that guarantees the insurance co.s 15-20% of your gross income. and if you make 66k or more, you're hosed. somehow we have to get rid of the DLC / DSCC / DCCC.
Baucus is irrelevant. He thought he'd do an end run around Obama and clearly got caught with his pants down.
Epic Fail! As a Montanan, I am embarrassed. Thanks Max. Now shut up and get behind the President!
Allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines would allow companies to undermine state laws. Think about South Dakota and credit card companies and we would see the same trend if health insurance providers are allowed to sell policies across state lines.
Funny how the GOP claims to be the party of less governement and states rights.
If interstate insurance companies were allowed, this is what we as consumer protection would get:
** Loss of state benefit mandates would allow exclusion of preventive treatments and exams, prevent early diagnosis of disease and evade Patient Bill of Rights laws passed in nearly every state. Denying access to such basic preventive care makes treatment more costly to the policyholder and ultimately to taxpayers, who pick up the bill when individuals cannot pay outrageous out-of-pocket costs.
** State laws providing consumers the right to appeal a coverage denial to an independent panel of physicians, a right to a second opinion, and assistance from state regulators when coverage is denied would all be lost under the Enzi approach.
** Individual patients who currently have the ability to hold insurers financially accountable for injuries caused by the denial or delay of necessary care would lose those rights if they joined the Enzi co-op.
Just imagine how hard it would be to fight your insurer if they were in another state. They'll probably outsource customer service to India.
Marcy Wheeler has done a lot of good follow-up at her site. Outstanding as always.
But that's no surprise! They are all Republicans. But they run in Democratic districts where Republicans can't get elected. I'd suggest THOSE voters get rid of them next year and do some real detailed background checking before they elect their next representatives so they get the real thing.
dear Mr baucus..
are you aware of any links to a
Mr. Jack Abramoff?
remember that guy Mr baucus?
the lobbyist..
try here:
http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/22794/p...
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