Max Baucus – Healthcare-NOW

Discretionary Deeming: How Libby Montana Got Improved Medicare With Free Drugs

By Kay Tillow, Unions for Single Payer – Buried deep in the health reform law is Section 10323. It amends the Social Security Act to extend Medicare coverage to individuals exposed to environmental health hazards in the region defined by the Emergency Declaration of June 17, 2009. That declaration limits this benefit to the area…

Washington’s Revolving Door Is Hazardous to Our Health

By Bill Moyers and Michael Winship for Common Dreams – We’ve seen how Washington insiders write the rules of politics and the economy to protect powerful special interests, but now as we enter the holiday season, and a month or so after the election, we’re getting a refresher course in just how that inside game…

Dems Propose $400 Billion in Medicare Cuts

By Sam Stein for Huffington Post – Democrats on the congressional super committee have produced a “presentation” that would include a roughly equal mix of spending cuts and revenue increases to achieve an estimated $2.5 trillion to $3 trillion in deficit reduction. The early reviews among progressives is that the outlines, as introduced by Senate…

How Libby, Montana Got Medicare for All

By Kay Tillow – In 2009 when the Washington beltway was tied up with the health care reform tussle, Montana Democratic Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the all powerful Senate Finance Committee, said everything was on the table–except for single payer. When doctors, nurses and others rose in his hearing to insist that single payer…

Single-Payer is Inevitable

Progressives and Conservatives Agree By Rob Stone, MD – “The new health care legislation is a step toward elimination, by slow strangulation, of private health insurance and establishment of government as the ‘single payer.’” – George Will, in his weekly newspaper column, Sunday July 11, 2010 Everyone loves to pick on the Affordable Care Act…

Whacking the Old Folks

By William Greider for the Nation – In setting up his National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, Barack Obama is again playing coy in public, but his intentions are widely understood among Washington insiders. The president intends to offer Social Security as a sacrificial lamb to entice conservative deficit hawks into a grand bipartisan…

Arrested Single-Payer Activists on FRONTLINE

Nearly one year ago, doctors, nurses, and single-payer advocates stood up in the Senate Finance Committee hearing led by Senator Max Baucus to protest the exclusion of single-payer advocates from the discussion. One by one they were arrested. Now, FRONTLINE examines the writing of a healthcare bill by a corporate-controlled Congress. In Obama’s Deal, airing…

Probation Ends for Baucus 8

Group Vows: “The Fight will continue until every person in our nation has access to quality, affordable health care.” Washington, D.C. – Members of the Baucus 8 appeared at the H. Carl Moultrie I Courthouse today for their final hearing following 6 months of probation and, for 3 members, 40 hours of community service. The…

As Baucus Unveils Health Plan, New Study Finds 45,000 Uninsured Die Every Year

From Democracy Now – A long-awaited healthcare bill from Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus includes no public option and would require almost all Americans to buy insurance or pay a penalty. This comes as a new study finds that nearly 45,000 Americans die every year due to lack of health insurance. We speak with…

Action Alert: Make Single-Payer Part of Senate Roundtable Discussions

We need your help getting a single-payer supporter into Senate Finance Committee roundtable discussions on healthcare reform. The Finance Committee (Led by Sen. Max Baucus – MT) is holding three roundtable discussions on healthcare reform in the coming weeks. The first discussion, titled “Reforming America’s Health Care Delivery System,” on April 21st, had thirteen witnesses.…