Max Baucus Regrets Killing Single-Payer, Sanders Says

Sen. Max Baucus met with advocates for single-payer health care in a closed meeting on Wednesday and expressed regret that he had not included them in the earlier negotiations for reform.

Health-care point man Baucus (D-Mont.), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, took a statewide beating last week for dismissing the possibility of a single-payer system early in the debate -- leading to the meeting with health care professionals and Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who is the sponsor of the Senate's only single-payer bill.

"I don't like paraphrasing other people, I don't like being paraphrased, but I think it's fair to say that what he said is that when he said something to the effect that single-payer is off the table, I think he regrets having said that," Sanders said following a morning closed-door meeting with Baucus. "I think in retrospect he thinks there probably should have been hearings, it should have been part of the process, and then it would have been rejected."

Baucus is under pressure from the White House to get a health care bill to the Senate floor quickly. Those in the meeting said he told them it's too late to include them and add further hearings to the debate.

The Montana senator did, however, agree to use the power of his office to fight for leniency on behalf of the dozen or so doctors and nurses who had been arrested for demanding a single-payer program during committee hearings on health care.

Sanders and the assembled single-payer advocates said they remain committed to advancing a universal, government-run program, though without Baucus that task is much tougher.

"I find it somewhat incomprehensible that if we are serious about getting to health care reform, if we are serious about tackling the outrageously high cost of health care, that we are not engaging in serious discussion about a single-payer health care system," Sanders said.

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Comments

[The Ghost]

Go Bernie GO!

[quiviran]

So Baucus says, oops, too late, so sorry. How far down the approval scale is Obama willing to go if the plan backed by 60% of Americans isn't the one enacted by Congress? How much backlash will there be if a mandate to purchase health insurance, thus funneling even more money into a non-value-added industry is forced on 60% of the population who favored an approach that only garnered "OOPS" from our august political leadership. Talk about disillusionment. Might as well start the Democratic Party 2012 presidential primary race the next day.

This makes me so sad.

[eciaccio]

Dear Max:

Don't regret.

Resign.

And take you insurance corporation contributions with you.

[bigskydem]

Waiting till you turn 65 to get medicare?
Counting on bankruptcy to get medicaid?
This isn't rationed care?

Reuters "Most medical debtors were
well-educated, owned homes and had
middle-class occupations."

Reuters "Medical bills underlie 60 percent of
U.S. bankruptcies: study"

"Nationally, a quarter of firms
cancel coverage immediately when an
employee suffers a disabling illness;
another quarter do so within a year,"
the report reads.

Deny-care for some; Medicare for all?

[erichwwk]

Sen. Baucus is more concerned about subsidizing insurance companies and forcing the public to buy their products than he is in addressing the root problem- with one actuarial pool there is no value added by insurance companies.

The public is tired of being told they have "choice", when "choice" in fact excludes a single payer, forces the public to read endless fine print contracts, and allows the insurance company to exclude payment. Just ask the military contractors in Iraq who "thought" they were insured by AIG, by far the largest insurance provider. If they cannot have their "contracts" honored, what chance does an elderly, incapacitated person not having the advocacy of a major corporation have under a private insurance contract??????

After all Sen. Baucus is essentially an employee of the insurance companies. Why would anyone expect him to bite the hand that feeds him?

[sueinmn]

And he should be removed from office under a conflict of interest!

[JBVT]

Why is one man permitted to wreak such havoc?

Sen. Baucus, "We, the American people merely ask for the same medical coverage you and your dependants enjoy.

So there,

[RoloTomassi]

I think I've stated this before but I will repeat it:

To eventually get REAL universal healthcare, WE NEED THIS FAILURE.

We need people to be so bankrupted, oppressed and pissed off that they are willing to put their feet to the street and march on Washington and say loudly to the DC pols that YES, we are willing to sacrifice an entire industry and the jobs that go with for the greater good of the nation.

We need this failure because, bottom line, as long as we have a healthcare insurance industry, we will have NO UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE.

[EndTheEcho]

You have a good point, but the failure has occurred already.

What we need is the public option, because single payer isn't going to happen now. With that being said, single payer needs to be front in center in the discussion, because it will pull the compromise bill to include the public option. If the left position is public option, with single payer off the table, then compromise bill could be right of public option and not include public option.

It is akin to negotiating a car price and as a buyer starting with MSRP/sticker price as what you are requesting.

[quiviran]

Single payer will not happen as long as any politician believes they will survive the next election without demanding it. We need a filibuster in the Senate over this.

[Imzadi]

Hypocrite

[Imzadi]

I heard him forceably remove people demanding to be heard on single payer from the hearings. No regret except his political viability.

[morgan1]

Baucus is from the mindset of those who state "we don't do torture", but will sign off on it. He does not believe in freedom of speech or human rights as he will not intervene in the arrest of protesters to his policies. He is part of the problem for all Americans.

[ThomH]

For healthcare “reform”, the fixes are in.

Fix 1: Government mandates will force everyone to buy insurance, funded by taxpayer-paid subsidies where needed. Result: higher healthco revenues and profits, and a more costly system than ever. But the fix is in. We'll have mandates and subsidies.

Fix 2: A “public option” is slipped in, letting policy buyers opt for a Medicare-like policy that would be some 30% cheaper than private insurance, which therefore will “wither away”. But the fix is in. There will be some kind of public option.

Fix 3: The healthcos see to it that a public option is enabled only if some “trigger” event occurs, which won't happen.. The final fix is in. The public option remains, but it's an illusion.

This is what we are going to get - unless we stand up and shout out for single payer Medicare For All, and threaten politician with loss of their seats unless we get it.

[Chaimirija]

fix 1 willl drive me out of the country---such an obvious gift to forProfits---and those stupid tax subsidies!

[Compgeek]

This is an idea.

Call Senator Baucus and ask him how you can recall a senator in Montana and you will get laugh. I called them today after doing my research and their were appalled that we want info to fire THEIR boss. I reminded the lady on the phone that WE, the American tax payer are her bosses boss, and in a sense she works for me.

Senator Baucus
[phone](Office)

For those who want that info, it is posted on the blog here. You basically need 50,000 signatures from Montana residents to get him recalled....its a drop in a bucket.

[Ohsherri]

You are great! :-)

[jmpurser]

DUDE!!!

You ROCK!!!

Way to man up and be a CITIZEN!

[quiviran]

I'm retired, have time to engage in important social issues. I can travel to Montana and remain as long as it takes. When and where is the first organizing meeting to kick this effort off?

[LemonMeringue]

Voters will get their revenge.

Americans want universal single payer health insurance. If Congress doesn't listen, we'll elect a different Congress.

This is the #1 issue right now.

[ErnestineBass]

Baucus isn't a Democrat, he's a DINO.

Bernie Sanders is the only REAL Democrat we have in the Senate, and he's an INDEPENDENT.

Go figure...

[RoloTomassi]

the "independent" moniker associated with Sanders is mostly for his constituents comfort, IMO, as Bernie is actually a true Socialist, and claims that distinction as a badge of courage; such is a sure sign that he is of a far higher caliber that most of his peers, as he knew he would be marginalized and ostricized for standing up for his beliefs, and did so anyway.

And I may be in error, but I believe he is very popular with the people he represents, as he actually represents them, rather than acting as a double agent-like liaison to the corporate state--which is what the vast majority of our DC representatives amount to.

[unite4change]

Check this out these are excellent videos:

http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=3719&updaterx=2009-05-28+11%3A55%3A13

[unite4change]

Check this out:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus27-2009may27,0,2252325.column