Max Baucus versus health care reform?

After all, he's introduced a bill he says is intended to promote a bi-partisan reform solution.  Nobody except the few who reap enormous profits thinks we can leave the situation "as-is." We know costs are sky-rocketing. We know the insured end up paying for the uninsured when they show up at the ER, and that the bankruptcies triggered by medical bills aren't some "magic wand" solution that has no consequences for the people who don't get paid what they're owed. But Senator Baucus may be talking out of both sides of his mouth.

Following the success of Barack Obama's election to the White House, here's what Max Baucus said:

"In 2009, Congress must take up and act on meaningful health reform legislation that achieves coverage for every American while also addressing the underlying problems in our health system. The urgency of this task has become undeniable."

~Senator Max Baucus, (D-MT)
Chairman, Senate Finance Committee
12 November 2008

Insurance actuaries and CEOs know, for example, that the number of elderly Americans is on the rise, and that their health care is costly - but the solutions haven't been coming from their industry. Are they competing to find and provide solutions?

So, what do you think this powerful chairman of the Senate Finance Committe really hopes to do?

The number of uninsured has steadily increased; the profits of the insurance companies have, too. The profit motive works for a lot of things, but it's not the right model for delivering health care, let alone health care payments.

Baucus' Finance Committee delays "public option" vote

The Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Max Baucus of Montana, has delayed the vote on the "public option" until next week. Possibly in part because the Congressional Budget Office has notified Congress that tethering a public option to Medicare reimbursement rates would save the government $110 billion as reported earlier here. That more savings than even the original "public option" proposals by leveraging a system that's already in place.

Or maybe it was partly a reaction to the reprehensible, fear-mongering mailer from Humana to senior citizens on Medicare. Whatever the causes, as the bills stand now, people can not opt out but are stuck with what their employer offers, an obvious nod to big insurance companies which threatens portability while protecting their profits. There are lots of ways to improve the bill, and fiscally responsible ways to reform health care and health care payment systems in the USA.

You now have more time to get those emails sent and be heard.

Senate Finance Committee
Democrats	Republicans
MAX BAUCUS, MT JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, WV KENT CONRAD, ND JEFF BINGAMAN, NM JOHN F. KERRY, MA BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, AR RON WYDEN, OR CHARLES E. SCHUMER, NY DEBBIE STABENOW, MI MARIA CANTWELL, WA BILL NELSON, FL ROBERT MENENDEZ, NJ THOMAS CARPER, DE	CHUCK GRASSLEY, IA ORRIN G. HATCH, UT OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, ME JON KYL, AZ JIM BUNNING, KY MIKE CRAPO, ID PAT ROBERTS, KS JOHN ENSIGN, NV MIKE ENZI, WY JOHN CORNYN, TX

It's clear there's no "perfect" system, and there's big money riding on keeping things "as is," but despite the money-hungry spin from fast-talking pundits playing free and loose with the facts, despite the 6-to-1 ratio of health care lobbyists to members of congress, and despite the rampant misinformation campaigns, one thing has become obvious to even the most casual observers:

There is lots of room for improvement in the current scheme.

We've got to concentrate on finding a fairer way to distribute the costs while controlling the expenses. The good news is: the benefit of any and every improvement will flow to you, and me, and our community - no matter if you think of community as the neighborhood, the city, the country, or the planet. And now you have just a little more time to make that point with the members of the committee.

Do it now...

...then Digg this post!

Blue DOUBLE Cross - you call that a plan?

That didn’t take long. Less than two weeks have passed since much of the medical-industrial complex made a big show of working with President Obama on health care reform — and the double-crossing is already well under way. Krugman's May 21 OpEd points out just how two-faced big insurance is. They will fight reform. PERIOD.

The insurance company plan turns out to be "protect the status quo."

Their "plan" is to let costs go on rising! Their plan is corporate bureaucrats and HMOs getting between you and your doctor to protect their profits - accountants deciding your doctor doesn't know what should be prescribed. If we address two things, 1) people who lose or can't get insurance, and 2) the totally out-of-control cost spiral, while we sensibly challenge insurance companies by creating a new public health insurance option to let the free market work its magic, everybody will be able to afford good health care.

Their plan is to keep cherry-picking the healthy and the wealthy and dumping you if you commit the sin of getting sick or injured - that's the insurance companies self-interested idea of cost control. You can't blame them, really, they're just trying to keep the CEOs and lobbyists well-paid, and it's been working for 30 years or more, and they've got many of our elected officials bought and paid for already.

There's no incentive for big insurance companies to control health care costs - they haven't been competing. The first hint they might have to do so got them to the table. They're scared stiff at the prospect of a public option, because they surveyed people and the truth is folks love the idea. I'm not talking about single-payer, mind you - the President isn't trying to turn us into England despite what you hear about socialized medicine. This first step that insurance companies oppose is giving Americans a real choice.

But the big insurance CEOs only paid lip-service to the President for fear of bad PR. Now they're doing an about face. Krugman skewers them, including the fact that they've had TV ads in the works since well before their meeting in D.C.

Health care isn't the problem, the high cost of getting coverage is the problem. Insurance companies and their champions on Capitol Hill oppose real reform; reform threatens their profits.

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