The Opt Out

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will include the public option in the final health care bill. Reid announced Democrats are united.

“I’ve conclude with the support of the White House and Sens. Dodd and Baucus, that the best way to move forward is to include a public option with the op-out provision for states,” Reid said at a press conference.

Sen. Max Baucus has fought to keep the public option out of the health care bill. Reid publicly announcing Baucus's support means conservative Democrats are fearful of backlash from the progressive base. Baucus will probably work behind to scenes to kill the public option. Reid is in a tough election and Nevada voters have expressed support for the public option. Baucus has lost the Majority Leader. Reid is willing to lose Sen. Olympia Snowe. The latter said she vote vote against any health care bill containing the public option.

Reid will add legislation that will allow states to opt out of the public option. We can expect to see red states opt out and have the most uninsured patients. Conservatives will wonder why health care cost won't go down. Republicans will say health care needs to be 100 percent privatized and propose no regulations for oversight. Conservatives will say, "Let the free market decide." I say Republicans and conservatives need to take an economics class. The status quo is unsustainable. The U.S. Government Accountability Office describes the cost of health care as "unsustainable." The GAO reports warns health care will become a drain on our economy, produce greater taxes and affect the United States ability to compete in a global economy. Republicans and conservatives would rather shout bumper sticker slogans than read government health care reports.

Max Baucus Facing His Public Option Moment

Sen. Max Baucus has reiterated he supports the public option. In the Senate Finance Committee, Baucus said he voted against Sen. Chuck Schumer's public option amendment because there wasn't enough votes in the Senate. Majority Leader Harry Reid believes there are 60 votes to stop a Republican filibuster of the public option. Reid would only need 51 votes to pass a public option health care bill. ABC News reports Baucus got wind of Reid's plan and went ballistic.

This is not a done deal. I am told that Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) – who worked for months to get Olympia Snowe’s support for the bill and has consistently said a public option cannot pass the Senate – was apoplectic when Reid told him he wanted to include the public option. “Baucus went to DEFCON 1,” said a source familiar with the negotiations, referring to the alert level the military uses for an imminent attack on the homeland.

Baucus has publicly said he supports a public option. Baucus's actions has been to prevent the public option from being implemented in the final bill. The questions are will Baucus join a Republican filibuster or vote against the public option. The media should ask Baucus will he vote for a health care bill with the public option. Baucus should also be asked about the million dollars, in campaign contributions, from the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. I am interested in Baucus's response.

Baucus is behaving as someone terrified about having to vote for or against the public option. Stripping the public option relieves Baucus of that choice. If Baucus votes against a final public option health care bill, he will anger the base and be viewed as a shrill for lobbyists.

Why the Public Option Failed in the Senate

Sen. Bill Nelson voted against the Jay Rockefeller amendment. Nelson did vote for the watered down public option amendment authored by Chuck Schumer.

"It seems to me that this is very important that we have this competition. It has all safeguards in it ..." Nelson said.

The Schumer amendment failed 10 to 13. All the cynical outreach efforts by President Barack Obama to get Republican votes failed. I previously wrote the Obama and Baucus were crafting legislation that would mandate citizens buying private insurance and protect pharmaceutical industry profits. Lindsey Graham explained to Ezra Klein that Obama never pressed Congress on the public option.

You make people afraid of opposing you or you get them rewarded for helping you. There's no fear for opposing Obama's public option, and the reward is for opposing it. Right now, Republicans feel no political exposure from opposing the president's health-care initiative.

Obama reneged on his campaign promise to hold open meetings with insurers and the pharmaceutical industry. Health insurers will get more customers and drug prices will continue to escalate. It is up to Nancy Pelosi and Democrats in the House of Representitives to keep the public option alive.

Update: the Democrats whom voted against the Rockefeller amendment were Max Baucus, Kent Conrad, Blanche Lincoln, Tom Carper and Nelson.

Max Baucus's Faulty 60 Vote Logical

Max Baucus just announced he won't for Chuck Schumer's public option amendment because it won't get 60 votes. It certainly won't get 60 votes if one of the members of the Democratic caucus votes against the amendment. That one Senator would be Mr. Baucus. Open Secrets lists Baucus's campaign contributions from the insurance industry at $558,075 and pharmaceutical companies at $507,313. These corporations are Baucus's true constituents.

Update: Baucus against Jay Rockefeller public option amendment.

Public Option Alive

President Barack Obama has never previously said the public option must be in the health care bill. Senator Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi have promised the public option in the bill. Obama's Joint Session of Congress speech left progressives wondering if the public option was being abandoned.

"The public option -- the public option is only a means to that end," the President said. "And we should remain open to other ideas that accomplish our ultimate goal."

Administration officials implied a health care bill without the public option would be acceptable.

Rahm Emanuel's comments to the Wall Street Journal created a progressive backlash.

WASHINGTON -- It is more important that health-care legislation inject stiff competition among insurance plans than it is for Congress to create a pure government-run option, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said.

"The goal is to have a means and a mechanism to keep the private insurers honest," he said in an interview. "The goal is non-negotiable; the path is" negotiable.

Kathleen Sebelius and Robert Gibbs made similar comments on the Sunday talk shows. The White House held private meetings with health industries companies and refused to make the visitor logs public. Obama attempted to have Tom Daschle appointed as Health and Human Services secretary. Daschle is a paid advisor for UnitedHealth and Tennessee Hospital Association. He has also worked as a lobbyist. Daschle has been going to the White House in attempts to steer Obama from the public option. To make matters worst: a memo of the deal the White House and Max Baucus struck with the pharmaceutical industry has been leaked to Huffington Post reporter Ryan Grim.



The Baucus bill has been greeted with contempt. Senator Jay Rockefeller said he won't support the Baucus mark up.

"There are only about 4 to 7 [Co-ops] that exist [nationwide]. And I’m very skeptical… of starting up a system that doesn’t work."

Rep. Anthony Weiner called the bill "dead on arrival."

Rep. Weiner on Maddow: Baucus Bill Dead on Arrival- Watch more Politics Videos at Vodpod.

President Obama has had a sudden change of heart. The Hill reports Obama gave a near endorsement of the public option.

"I absolutely do not believe that it's dead," Obama told Univision. "I think that it's something that we can still include as part of a comprehensive reform effort."

Blogger Jesse Livermore predicted in August that the Baucus bill would fail. I agree that the bill will pass by reconciliation.

Side note: Health care industry officials that met privately with the White House.

Quote of the Day

"The Baucus bill is the worst piece of healthcare legislation I've seen in 30 years. In fact, it's a $60 billion giveaway to the health insurance industry every year. It was written by healthcare lobbyists, so that's not a surprise. It's an outrage."

Howard Dean

Gov. Dean is saying what I have been blogging about Obama has praised Republicans on the Gang of Six and pressured the Progressive Caucus to drop support of the public option. Obama and Baucus share equal blame for this bill.

Write A Caption: Max Baucus

Media Matters reports Fox News rebranded Max Baucus as a Republican. I usually have a problem when Fox News gives a politician the wrong affiliation. Fox News gets Baucus's true loyalties right by mislabeling a screen caption. Progressives see this photo and say, "Baucas might as well be a Republican."

The Baucus Bill Really Is Bad

My post "The Disappearing Public Option" detailed how President Obama was against the public option and allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry. The Max Baucus mandates every American buy health insurance. There are income and religious exemptions. The Wall Street Journal reports there are no provisions to allow Medicare to negotiate with Big PHARMA.

The good news is the Congressional Budget Office reports the Baucus bill would reduce the deficit.

Estimated Budgetary Impact of the Chairman’s Proposal
According to CBO and JCT’s assessment, enacting the Chairman’s proposal would result in a net reduction in federal budget deficits of $49 billion over the 2010–2019 period (see Table 1). The estimate includes a projected net cost of $500 billion over 10 years for the proposed expansions in insurance coverage. That net cost itself reflects a gross total of $774 billion in credits and subsidies provided through the exchanges, increased net outlays for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and tax credits for small employers; those costs are partly
offset by $215 billion in revenues from the excise tax on high-premium insurance plans and $59 billion in revenues from other sources.1 The net cost of the coverage expansions would be more than offset by the combination of other spending changes that CBO estimates would save $409 billion over the 10 years and other tax provisions that JCT and CBO estimate would increase federal revenues by $139 billion over the same period.2 In subsequent years, the collective effect of those provisions would probably be continued reductions in federal budget deficits.

Those estimates are all subject to substantial uncertainty. Furthermore, although we understand that the published document describing the Chairman’s mark was intended to reflect the specifications provided to us, CBO and JCT have not reviewed that document to determine whether it conforms in all respects to those specifications.

There is nothing in the Baucus bill that will bring down drug or private insurance costs. If anything, the Big PHARMA and private insurers come out stronger than before. The Baucus bill kicks Co-Ops to the state level. Can we get anymore cynical?

Health Care Reform On Fasttrack

The Wonk Room reports the Health Care bill is on the fast track.

Baucus said Thursday that he hopes to have a bipartisan deal on a health care reform bill by the end of the day.

Baucus and Harry Reid have assurances that Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman will not support a filibuster.