Baucus Fiasco

[Winter_123]

Some of you may have seen that cartoon that crops up from time to time that shows a picture of a camel and underneath it, it says: " A horse designed by a committee." Thus we have the Baucus Plan, with something for everyone to hate.

Once again though, where is Mr. Obama's plan? We were supposed to hear about it during the campaign. Nope. Then during the many, many months leading up to August. Nope. Then we would learn more in the big speeches. Nope. And then we would learn the details to be released after the last big speech a week ago. Nope. Nowhere to be found. No plan or bill from the White House. The White House is just an observer of what the Senate and House do or don't do. So now the White House will lean back and see what the public can and cannot stomach out of the Bachus plan to see what they might want for a plan. This is called leadership. What a mess.

Change you can believe in.

 

[Mr. Bill]

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.

 

[ins.dave]

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.

YouTube - Apocalypse Now..Ride Of The Valkyries

Wagner, keep'n it real up in the rice fields.

Great movie.
Noth'n like the smell of napalm in the morn'n ...
Oh yeah.

 

[stuy119]

i have to think, as a business owner who sells health insurance, that the Baucus option is best for me. It doesn't do away with brokers.

 

[Winter_123]

i have to think, as a business owner who sells health insurance, that the Baucus option is best for me. It doesn't do away with brokers.

Don't know. Neither does it preclude Congress from eliminating commissions on plans that are eligible for subsidy or tax credit. If the public option does not pass, and it is not going to, then Congress is going regulate and rip the bejeesus out of insurnance plans so that they might as well be part of government. Tis the nature of Socialism. The Baucas plan is just a bunch of spaghetti tossed against the wall for Obama to see what sticks and what doesnt because he has no plan of his own.

We are years away from resolving some of this. Don't doubt for a minute though that there will be agreement on "guiding principles", benchmarks, etc before the end of the year to pretend that Mr. Obama got health reform before the end of the year as promised.

 

[Mac1958]

For the first time, I'm beginning to wonder if anything is going to be passed soon.

To the far left, the Blue Dogs may as well be Republicans. To the Blue Dogs, the far left is, well, too far left. It looks like Pelosi and Reid are willing to cram this through via reconciliation, but now I'm not sure sure the Dems can scrape up 50 votes.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the Oval Office. I'll bet there's some serious Chicago-style arm-twisting going on with the Democrat holdouts.

 

[Winter_123]

Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the Oval Office. I'll bet there's some serious Chicago-style arm-twisting going on with the Democrat holdouts.

Oh jeez, I don't know that we can use the term "holdout." That would imply that most in Congress are lined up and that there are some people well.......err.....ahhh... holding out.

There is nothing like that going on. Many,many democrats will not go for something without the public option and in addition, the House bill is a whole different can of worms. If Mr. Obama is supporting the Baucus bill to the point where he is twisting arms then maybe he could share with the public that he is supporting it. Tom Harkin who took Kennedy's place said that "there would be no bill without a public option" as long as he was chair.

I dont doubt that there will be holdouts at some point but there is no consensus on anything so therefore nothing to hold out against right now. It is every man for himself. And this doesnt even get to the Republican holdouts who basically are beyond holding out and not even part of the equation at this point. Possible exception of Olympia Snowe who was part of the Gang of Six but not says she is not ready yet to support Baucus which is the Gang of Six report. Not exactly zippy there. The Gang of Six is now a Gang of One consisting of Baucus. "Bipartisan support" now means that they might be able to get one Republican, Olympia Snowe or maybe not. How zippy and bipartisan is that when you might have one Republican but she says that she cannot commit yet to the plan that the committee she participated in wrote. Not so much.

Where is the White House plan? I keep hearing about Obama's plan. Can someone direct me to it? Thanking you in advance.

What a mess.

Change you can believe in.

 

[Mac1958]

Could be wrong here, but it was my understanding that Obama was essentially backing the Baucus bill. If not overtly, at least by inference. Of course, I got this from "reports", which given the state of journalism today don't count for much.

That said, all the Democrats have at this point is reconciliation. Looks like Snowe has bowed out of the Baucus plan. The Dems are already trashing it. The GOP is out. Now they're playing the race card, that's how desperate they are (speaking of the race card, I'm a little surprised it's taken this long).

So the "holdout" Dems have a choice to make: Do I give in to Obama and save my skin, or do I vote for a bloated, wasteful bill that the GOP will have a chance to rip apart for three years? Talk about a no-win situation.

I do know one thing - this a freakin' MESS, which is what you can expect when a bunch of professional politicians endeavor to "fix" things.

...

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

A Primer on the Max Baucus Health-Care Bill's Contents - TIME

More well though out than the House bill but still a no-go.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

"By 2010, each state would be required to establish an exchange, or marketplace, where insurance will be sold. Initially, only individuals and businesses with 50 or fewer employees would be eligible to shop in the exchanges, but by 2017, states would have to develop plans to phase in larger employers"

"By 2010" is in three months! And I do NOT like the sound of the exchange or marketplace.