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

[MDCambridge]

I am surprised: was Obama's story about his mother having trouble paying her cancer bills just a ruse to garner votes?

I will be very disappointed if Obama doesn't do everything within his power to pass REAL healthcare reform that's commensurate with our status as a nation. (Presently, we are ranked #37.)

[Solja]

The POTUS does not make the laws, Congress does. You need to be contacting your representatives to get them to support single-payer health care.

[vanmungo]

The president has the "bully pulpit." He can lead by the force of his words and convictions. That's how Johnson got Medicare and the Civil Rights bill passed--he called legislators and leaned on them very hard. The problem with Obama is twofold: (1) he doesn't really want single payer because he is knee-deep in servitude to the HMOs and Big Pharma companies that donated millions to his campaign (more than to McCain's!); therefore, he didn't even invite any represenatives of the single-payer viewpoint to his White House summit on health care until he was threatened with a picket line of doctors in white coats if he didnt't; and (2) he is confident that uncritical worshipers will give him a free pass on this instead of holding his feet to the fire.

No more free passes for Obama--he's either going to act in the interests of his corporate sponsors or in the interests of the American people; he can't straddle that line forever. If he has to be pushed to do the right thing, then we need to push--but we can't let him off the hook on single payer.

Go to www.singlepayeraction.org or www.pnhp. for more info. on how to support the effort for single payer.

EVERYBODY IN! NOBODY OUT! SINGLE PAYER MEDICARE FOR ALL!

[ThomasPaineWeNeedYou]

Sen Baucus has not killed anything. Let me put it this way if these guys believe the fight is over. I say it has just begun and it up to everyone who can afford to call, or has a computer, or pen paper and money for stamps to write your congressional people, Baucas, King, the white house and anyone else you can think of and do it once, twice, three, four ........ and on and on. Do not give up do not despair there are more of us We The People than the lobbists and if we are noisy enough and do not quit we will win this fight. Talk to your neighbors, relatives, friends, and others. I am a chiropractor and if you want tell them you want chiropractic fully included. I don't know how I'll fare but I know this the present system is denycare b/c of profit and until profit system have to compete against the public cheaper system they will alway be denycare. We are the only industrialized nation without the public option what is wrong with us.
This is a barroom brawl and we will have to fight, organzie, march and fight some more. I believe it will be worth it.

[Compgeek]

How to Recall Baucus

Montana is one of the only 18 states that has this provision.
The issue is that Baucus was re-elected in 2008, and so he will be there till 2014.
There is a strong backlash against him, and Montana does not have alot of residents, less then a million, it would be easy.

I am not a resident of Montana, and can't do it, but here is the info:

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Laws_governing_recall_in_Montana

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Montana_signature_requirements

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Laws_governing_petition_circulators

In short, you only need 50,000 votes to get a recall in Montana on the ballot!

You can contact the Secretary of the State and they will give the form...it should also be posted under the open record acts, but most states don't make it readily available

[binarystar]

That is excellent information.

I really hope someone from Montana picks it up and runs with it.

[Bernique]

Compgeek -- applause, applause, applause!

[Cookie100]

YOU & I AS TAXPAYERS PAY THIS MANS INSURANCE, AND THAT OF HIS FAMILY'S.

THE PERSON WHO ANSWERS THE PHONE IN HIS OFFICE, YOU AND I PAY THEIR INSURANCE AND THAT OF THEIR FAMILY'S.

WE PAY FOR EVERY SINGLE GOVERNMENT WORKERS INSURANCE. IF THEY LIVED OUT HERE IN
THE REAL WORLD, WITH MY HORRIFIC INSURANCE, THEY'D BE SHOOTING AT THEIR SENATOR!

I HAVE A $50 CO-PAY

A $2,400 ANNUAL DEDUCTIBLE, BUT 3 DIFFERENT CATEGORIES HAVE TO BE FILLED BEFORE THEY PAY FOR ANY PART OF ANYTHING.

HOSPITALIZATION 80/20 ONLY UP TILL $1 MILLION. FOR THIS PRIVILEGE I PAY $320 A MONTH

AND MY EMPLOYER PAYS THE OTHER 75%!!!!!!!!!!

YOU AND I PAY THESE PEOPLES INSURANCE, THEY PAY NOTHING! 50 MILLION PEOPLE

WITH NO HEALTH CARE ARE PAYING THIS MANS INSURANCE.

[Ohsherri]

I wish we had outraged and loud Dems likeyou working in Washington.

[Ohsherri]

Sure we have a whole lot of Dems.
But I always say-

QUALITY over quantity.

Lets face it...most of these 'cozy and comfortable' Dems only move for Bush and Terry Shy-vo.

[kewe]

We shouldn't be rushing to the conclusion that single-payer is the only viable solution. There's nothing in economic advisory report on successfully health care reform - on whitehouse.gov - that sides with one system or another. in fact, the evaluations made and benefits of effective reform are based on not only lowering costs and increasing coverage, but also creating incentives that put value over volume in a competitive system.
i have zero faith that a government run single disbursement agency can be set up rapidly, with minimal bureaucracy, without exacerbating a number of economic problems, including unemployment.
It's the competitive nature of our capitalism that says that putting public and private options side-by-side, to let the market and individual decide, is what will ultimately drive the private option to extinction.

[Imrightyourewrong]

The only problem with your comment is that we have so many instances where these "incentives" are just plain bogus. Single payer systems worldwide are typically the lowest cost and provide the most access to the most people.

[Solja]

I disagree about the private option going extinct. They are very, very profitable right now so lowering their price will be like changing the price of 2 Tylenol pills from $7.50 to $1.50, where it should be. They'll survive.

[vanmungo]

But based on the experience of all other industrialized nations over the past fifty years, it is clear that a nonprofit, single-payer system IS verifiably the only workable solution to cutting costs and providing guaranteed coverage to all.

As for your concern about displacement of HMO workers (from www.pnhp.org):

What will happen to all of the people who work for insurance companies?

The new system will still need some people to administer claims. Administration will shrink, however, eliminating the need for many insurance workers, as well as administrative staff in hospitals, clinics and nursing homes. More health care providers, especially in the fields of long-term care, home health care, and public health, will be needed, and many insurance clerks can be retrained to enter these fields. Many people now working in the insurance industry are, in fact, already health professionals (e.g. nurses) who will be able to find work in the health care field again. But many insurance and health administrative workers will need a job retraining and placement program. We anticipate that such a program would cost about $20 billion, a small fraction of the administrative savings from the transition to national health insurance.

PNHP has worked with labor unions and others to develop plans for a jobs conversion program with would protect the incomes of displaced clerical workers until they were retrained and transitioned to other jobs.

[vanmungo]

On your concern about the feasability of a quick transition to single payer, I quote Dr. David Himmelstein of Harvard:

""Several nations have made abrupt changes in the financing of care. The UK instituted the National Health Service – eliminating insurance and private payment for care at a stroke. Each Canadian province went from a private insurance system very like ours to its current system virtually overnight -- though not all provinces underwent the change simultaneously. Taiwan changed to a single payer system about 10 years ago at a stroke."

"Medicare replaced private coverage for the elderly -- who account for about 30% of all hospital patients -- about nine months after its passage. That occurred in an era before computers. The entire task of enrolling tens of millions of patients, inspecting virtually every hospital in the nation -- to certify that they were desegregated, which was mandated by the Medicare law -- and set up a new payment apparatus was carried out using paper records. Why is a shift of the other two-thirds of our system more difficult?"

"The new payment system would be far simpler than the current one -- hospitals would receive a global budget, which initially would be based largely on their previous year's revenues. Medicare currently collects all of the financial info needed to do such budgeting at the outset. Per-patient billing for hospital care would be eliminated. . . . Expanding this payment system to cover all fee-for-service billings would be trivial.."

[ChelseaC]

Not only could some private insurance employees work for a new system, the old private system can stay private and sell many type of insurance--malpractice, home, auto, pet health, travelers insurance, personal property, disability, life, etc--they would just not make as much profits as they would have to trim the company size and profits. This is NO reason to keep this immoral system in place.
we would save over 3 billion a year--we could put that into clean energy, create more new jobs. medical research-- train new scientists.

[unite4change]

Everybody check these out and forward to people you know:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mc8ueX-_tE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3wXPwdgcqA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLe9vB9YqKg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7x_LlahIoA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dq4UyCvmoo

[elfNW]

“I`m sorry,” said the Walrus to the oysters after eating everyone.

[Imago]

Teehee!

[Mugzi]

We need single payer (Medicare for all) not only so everyone can have health care, but for-profit insurance companies are killing our economy and they know it! Reason being for market talk - the "trigger". No triggers, no more for profit insurance companies - we and our economy need single payer. Insurance companies are killing Americans, children, women and men with their profit margins.

Go to 1payer.nett" and fill out all the petitions...they are automatically e-faxed to key congressmen - yes, baucus's fax machines went down due to the volume, and the White House. Keep it up - tell everybody --we can do this!!!

[Realization]

Thanks for putting in the plug for petitions. To get single payer or anything close lots of people have to get active.

You are right that the health insurance companies are killing the U.S. economy. May I add that their highly paid executives, by enriching themselves with excessive pay packages based on creating human misery, are downright immoral.

To add to the debate, there should be discussion of a very high marginal tax rate on the rich. That would take away incentive to rip off the public. I believe that in North Carolina, Blue Cross is a non-profit. My statement on that is what the?????? And why does the CEO make millions? Salaries for all non-profits should be capped at US Government salary levels.

[SanityForOnce]

The president will have to get out front and push the single payer option. If he leaves these weak-kneed, lobbyist loving congress people to handle things, we're all doomed.

Time to crank up the bully pulpit again.

[RoadCrossingChicken]

Someone get the syrup... this waffle is ready for the plate.

[marijam]

They are all, for the most part, a bunch of crooks. The ones who aren't, well, there just aren't enough of them to force the others to be honest. Bought and paid for.

[RepugsOut08]

Folks, only one thing is gonna work. We the people will have to make this happen. We're gonna have to march on DC and flood Congress with letters and calls. If they don't think we're serious, or if they think they can survive politically, they'll just give us a mediocre tax credit or some such nonsense.
Have you heard about the "trigger" proposition the Repubs are proposing? We give the insurance companies a few more years to get their act together, and if they don't, health care reform will then "trigger" into being. Ugh! If we don't fight for single payer tooth and nail, this is the kind of junk we're going to be handed.

[MyrtleJune]

Where has Max Baucus been for the last TWO YEARS? How could he have missed the VOTERS' voting for Obama SPECIFICALLY for a PUBLIC plan option? I mean what planet was he on when we the people indicated OUR preference? Appalling he is.

This debate begins and ends with a public single payor plan. PERIOD.

All these other "negotiations" are unnecessary. I'm equally appalled that they are negotiating with financial "terrorists"!!!! The insurance companies are how we got here and a total waste of time to even speak to them. No public plan, NO REFORM. Any member of congress not voting FOR a single payor public health care option will no longer have a seat in congress. And we can make that happen!

HUGE THANKS to Montana folks for bringing the "conversation" back to where it should have begun: SINGLE PAYOR PUBLIC OPTION.

Max has to go!!!!

[Mikeeeisen]

I will not vote for another of my representatives if they do not vote for a pubilic plan, even if they pass it with a trigger. I would obviously prefer single payer.

If we get the word out that we will not vote for them under any other cuircumstnaces I think they will get the message.