It should come as no surprise to Baucus Watch readers that the draft omits mention of a public plan a la Medicare. Baucus has been lukewarm to the concept for months. In March, he said he considered a public option a bargaining chip to force insurers into accepting other so-called market reforms. It looks like Baucus has struck his bargain. The draft document doesn’t even call for a public plan lite. Instead it proposes non-profit co-op health plans—a lackluster option which sounds like what moderate Dems and some Republicans have been talking about as an alternative to a real public plan. Insurers, doctors, hospitals, and other foes of a public plan may be winning on this one.
The Baucus draft shows that, while the special interests will be taken care of, the public is another matter. How do millions of people feel about buying insurance they may not want or can’t realistically afford? How, for example, can a family with an income of $70,000 afford a premium of $12,000 or $13,000? If they choose the penalty because it’s cheaper than buying a policy, they will still be uninsured—so much for universality. And if they buy a cheapie limited policy, which companies will be selling by the boatloads, how will that help them when serious illness strikes? Won’t they still be underinsured and at risk for medical bankruptcy?
For starters, the media might press the White House on just where the president stands on the Baucus draft. This week, his Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, told the AP that the shape of a new public plan (which Obama has been pushing) isn’t a make or break issue for the president: “It’s way too early to say ‘This is absolutely in, this is absolutely out. I mean what he’s trying to do is get a bill passed.”
The president apparently wants something that he can sell to the public. That something is fertile ground for digging real deep.
How short your memory is! Mr. Obama has already sold a "plan" to the public. On at least three occasions, as a candidate and as President, Mr. Obama stated that he wants us (the public)to have the "same" medical insurance he had as a member of Congress. Obviously, Mr. Baucus and Mrs. Sebelius did not listen to Mr. Obama, nor did they take his words/promises seriously. To date, I have not seen anyone in Congress or the White House provide any details of that coverage and the premiums. I have asked my own Congressman for the details, and he has yet to respond. It's been more than a month. The media's credibility is at risk of further deterioration if Mr. Obama's Congressional Insurance Plan is not fully explored, and he is not held accountable for what he promised. I do not understand how or why the media can allow this specific health care plan to escape scrutiny.
#1 Posted by Doug Matthews, CJR on Tue 23 Jun 2009 at 09:47 AM
I have bought in the individual market for almost 30 yrs and am now on Medicare and learning all the things it won't pay. I have had a state plan for the uninsurable--and it was still $800 a mo. Who can even buy this stuff up until tax time when the credit gets kicked back? Do these people live in the real world? And what is this about only 16 million uninsured will be covered? I don't trust this brain trust over at the White House to do this, not that they are doing it. They don't want their fingerprints on whatever travesty slinks out of committee.
#2 Posted by Star, CJR on Tue 23 Jun 2009 at 10:43 AM
Again the insurance lobbysists win,the people lose.Surprise?No,that's the way it is in the USACheck out Baucus bank account,olitical accounts then you will know why what happens is what is paid for,it is business as ususal on Capitol Hill.
#3 Posted by ronald pjohnson,Esq., CJR on Tue 23 Jun 2009 at 11:33 AM
Like the government’s Iraq war and recent real estate debacle that ruined our economy, the health care program is designed for beneficiaries other than the USA taxpayers. The megalomaniacs and insurance industry are the beneficiaries. So how do the sheeples take back their government is the real question here. The answer is simply that sheeple care about nothing and will continue to graze in stupidity until they began to starve.
#4 Posted by D. Pritch, CJR on Thu 23 Jul 2009 at 11:45 AM
Like the government’s Iraq war and recent real estate debacle that ruined our economy, the health care program is designed for beneficiaries other than the USA taxpayers. The megalomaniacs and insurance industry are the beneficiaries. So how do the sheeples take back their government is the real question here. The answer is simply that sheeple care about nothing and will continue to graze in stupidity until they began to starve.
#5 Posted by D. Pritch, CJR on Thu 23 Jul 2009 at 11:46 AM