Obamacare Architect Admits “Single-Payer Health Insurance” would be Superior
Former U.S. Senator and Ambassador to China Max Baucus (D-Montana) just demonstrated why Americans hate Congress and politicians so much. The man identified as a “chief architect of Obamacare” admitted that Single Payer health insurance would be better.
“My personal view is we’ve got to start looking at single-payer,” Baucus admitted to a crowd at Montana State University on September 5. During an event honoring his career in “public service,” Baucus admitted that single-payer would reduce red tape, and paperwork, and lower drug prices.
The former Senator noted that Canada’s single-payer system delivers lower drug prices and requires less bureaucracy, The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported. Despite that, Baucus refused to seriously consider a single-payer alternative; when he was chairman of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee during the Obamacare debate.
More Democratic Healthcare Hypocrisy
Baucus’s behavior reeks of hypocrisy, selfishness, and cowardice. Instead of fighting for single-payer, Baucus caved into the insurance industry and signed onto Obamacare. Then he resigned; and ran away to China, rather than face voters angry at the results of his “public service.”
Now that he is safely out of office and living the good life on the proceeds of “public service,” Baucus promotes single payer. Like a number of Democrats Baucus tried to blame President Donald J. Trump (R-New York) and Republicans for Obamacare’s failure. He told students Trump was trying to “undermine” Obamacare.
Disturbingly, Baucus’s disgusting legacy lives on in Congress. A September 6 meeting of the U.S. Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee was devoted entirely to using increased federal subsidies to health-insurance giants like Anthem (NYSE: ANTM), Health over Profit reported. The option of Single-Payer was only raised by protesters in the audience.
Senators Want to Give More Money to Big Insurance
“There was broad bipartisan support for giving billions more to the insurance industry to “stabilize the market,” Health over Profit writers Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese noted. What’s even more disgusting is that some committee members even proposed new forms of corporate welfare for Big Insurance.
Committee member; and former Saturday Night Live, cast member Al Franken (D-Minnesota) favored giving health insurance companies as much tax money as possible. The ex-funnyman proposed subsidies for advertising to promote Obamacare to youth. Franken also wants a reinsurance program to stick taxpayers with the cost of care for the uninsured and heavier enforcement of mandates to buy health insurance. What’s next, will people be thrown in jail for not buying Obamacare?
Then if that was not bad enough Franken insulted everybody’s intelligence with drivel about a “virtuous cycle” in which increased giveaways to insurance companies leads to lower premiums. That is not even funny – it is time Minnesota voters sent Franken back to New York and late night television where he belongs.
Voters need to send Congress clear message. That message is ” vote for single payer, or start looking for a new job after the next election.” Fortunately, a lot of Democrats have already received that memo.
Centrist gets on Medicare for All Bandwagon
U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-Montana) a self-described centrist admitted that it’s time Congress considered single-payer healthcare, The Hill reported. Not coincidently Tester is up for reelection next year.
“Maybe it’s something we should, quite frankly, take a solid look at,” Tester said at a 6 September meeting of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. During the same talk, Tester seemed to endorse “Medicare for All” with a folksy reminiscence.
“My folks never had health insurance on the farm,” Tester recalled. “They retired in 1970, never had health insurance ever.”
“Their first insurance they had was Medicare,” Tester revealed. “There’s a reason for that: In the mid-60s when that happened, it was $400.”
Interestingly enough, The Hill noted that Tester faces a tough competitive race next year and quite probably a primary battle with a Bernie Bro. It sounds as if he understands what the voters want and will give it to them.
Kamala Harris is now A Bernie Sister
Tester is far from alone more than half of House Democrats now support a Medicare for All Bill. Another important centrist; and potential presidential candidate, U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D-California) has come out as a single-payer champion.
“I intend to co-sponsor the ‘Medicare for All’ bill because it’s just the right thing to do,” Harris said at an August 30 town hall in Oakland. “It’s not just about what is morally and ethically right, it also makes sense just from a fiscal standpoint.”
The bill Harris intends to co-sponsor is U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) Improved Medicare for All Bill, The Hill reported. Harris had previously been a lukewarm single-payer backer until she started counting votes.
Not coincidently, Harris’s new found love for single payer began shortly after poll results that indicate Sanders would have beaten Donald J. Trump (R-New York) in the presidential race were released. The same poll showed that party crossing Sanders supporters might have been the key to Trump’s victory in states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, NPR reported.
It looks as if Harris intends to get Bernie and his bros (Hipster supporters) on her side. Therefore, she might be intending to throw her hat into the presidential ring for 2020.
The Age of Centrist Dinosaurs is over
It looks as if Centrism on single-payer is dying fast in Congress. One has to wonder if this will lead to Medicare for All. I also wonder when the Centrist in the White House will join Bernie, Kamala, and Tester on the single-payer bandwagon. If the Donald is serious about 2020, it might be sooner than we think.
“If the people will lead, eventually the leaders will follow -” Florence Robinson.
The age of centrist dinosaurs; such as U.S Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-California), U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and Max Baucus, is over. It should be noted here that a popular abbreviation for dinosaur is Dino which can also stand for Democrats in Name Only (DINO). Like the GOP’s RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) the DINOs on the verge of extinction.
Voters are sick of their self-serving hypocrisy and throwing them out. Medicare for All might arrive soon because the bums in Washington want to keep their jobs.
