Democrat Max Baucus Pushes Mandated Universal Health Care
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Barack, Health Care, Montana, Senate
Looks like Obama will have to start herding the cats a lot sooner than he thought. Because not only does Montana Senator Max Baucus want to push universal health care, he wants it to be mandate for everybody which is what Hillary proposed, not Obama.
“My door is open and I seek partners with ‘can do’ spirits and open minds,” Mr. Baucus wrote in an introduction to his 89-page plan. “I believe — very strongly — that every American has a right to high-quality health care…and I believe Americans cannot wait any longer.”Like Mr. Obama, he proposes a national marketplace that he dubs the Health Insurance Exchange, in which individuals and small businesses could buy coverage, with subsidies based on income. Private insurers and a new Medicare-like public program would compete through the exchange to offer coverage.
Some Republicans have complained that such an approach gives government too heavy a hand in the design and sale of insurance.
Under the Baucus plan, most employers would be required to offer insurance to their workers or pay into a fund, with the contribution based on the size of the firm and its annual revenue. Small employers would get a tax credit if they offer insurance, with the size of the credit based on the size of the company and its earnings. [...]
During the campaign, Mr. Obama left himself some wiggle room on the issue, saying that he could support a mandate if the system proves impossible without one. It isn’t clear how much the new president would be willing to negotiate on this issue.
Also, take a look at the white paper Baucus put out. It seems exactly what Hillary was proposing.
So that begs the question: is Hillary behind this?
More as it develops…
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 and is filed under Barack, Health Care, Montana, Senate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
November 14th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
[...] for the Senate majority leader any time soon and the more senior Senator Max Baucus has recently taken the health care issue on as his own… A person close to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton says she would seriously [...]
March 13th, 2009 at 1:23 am
Wrong analysis by far. Follow the money trail. Max Baucus is bought and paid for: he has taken in millions of dollars from insurance companies and big pharmacy. His “White Paper” has been criticized by leading physicians. Please see a detailed expose of Baucus in “Max Baucus Should Be Off the table in Health Care Reform” at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/3/13/05542/8738/942/707925