Wendell Potter on the Baucus health care bill

Olbermann and Wendell Potter are talking about the Baucus health reform bill. Democratic Senator Max Baucus [Wikipedia] [SmartVote] [OpenSecrets], in my view, has sold out the American people, particularly Democrats, with his proposed health care reform bill. He is so embedded with the health insurance industry and their financial support of him that he has forsaken his constituents (which in a broad sense includes us all) in favor his personal concern to retain his position of power. In short, being owned by the for-profit insurance industry, he believes he can retain his Senate seat.

Read the sections in Wikipedia entitled Health Care Reform; his opposition to single-payer healthcare; and Conflict of Interest Charges.

Baucus has come under criticism for his ties to the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries while significant numbers of his own constituents lack health insurance and access to health care.

Despite this backdrop in his home state, Senator Baucus has been one of the biggest Senate beneficiaries of campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical and health insurance industries. From 2003 to 2008, Baucus received $3,973,485 from the health sector, including $852,813 from pharmaceutical companies, $851,141 from health professionals, $784,185 from the insurance industry and $465,750 from HMOs/health services, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. [OpenSecrets]

Any wonder why Warren Potter said the Baucus plan is “a gift to the insurance industry?”

Commentator Ed Schultz stated on his MSNBC TV show that Baucus has received “more money from pharmaceutical companies and insurance industry folks than any other Democrat in the Congress. Baucus got $183,000 from health insurance companies and $229,900 from drug companies” [Wikipedia]

Want to read more? Run a search on “Baucus”  in the search box at the top of this page to bring up all the prior posts mentioning Baucus. Run another search on the name of “Frank Luntz” as well.

Beyond Baucus I am concerned about President Obama’s connection to Baucus. Obama was expressing his gratitude to the hard work Baucus was doing in drafting of the Senate Bill when he spoke a week ago in Wyoming. That was before, of course, the Baucus plan was revealed to the public this week. I am hoping Obama see’s the problem.

The problem is, as Wendell Potter has pointed out, the Wall Street-for-profit insurance industry connection. Wall Street demands constant increases in profits each quarter from each insurance company. To meet that Wall Street pressure the insurance companies continue to diligently cut payouts for medical claims in order to increase their profitability—thus attract more and more investors and their stock values. That, in turn, justifies higher pay to the CEOs, executive and Boards of Directors. But less coverage to their customers.

The insurance industry has been resisting health care reform for years. Single-payer health care, aka “Medicare for all,” in particular because it would result in decreasing their profits. Anything that might reduce business profits is opposed by the Republican Leadership. Why? Because they are at the same money trough as Baucus. Baucus is a DINO (Democrat in name only).

The Republican Leadership hired Frank Luntz to devise talking points in opposition to health care reform. Luntz is a propaganda expert and showed them how to attack reform in a way that capture the support of more and more Americans.

The result has been what you have been seeing as “T-Bagger” demonstrations, the continual ranting of paid political pundits as talking heads on TV, newspaper editorials, letters to the editor, empty headed bloggers and the like.

Simple minded Americans jump onto that “anti-change” bandwagon and parrot their “leaders,” such as the esteemed and eminent philosophers Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Shawn Hannity, and Bill O’Reilly. Unthinking, empty headed, “ditto-heads.”

I am hoping President Obama will summarily reject the Baucus plan. Forget this futile bipartisan idea, the Republican leadership isn’t interested in effective governance. They were interested in it during the Bush administration and certainly are not interested in aiding legislation during the Obama administration. So forget them. They are a lost cause. They may have to, like Moses, wander around in the wilderness for 40 years, before they can get their heads on straight.

They will, eventually. But for the moment the Democrats have to pull their heads out of their rear ends. Ignore the Republicans and move forward constructively without wasting so much time. Democrats wanted the power, it was provided them in the 2008 election, now they’re scared to death to use it. Go figure!

Related posts:

1. Wendell Potter Slams Baucus Bill: ‘An Absolute Gift To The Insurance Industry’
2. Wendell Potter ignored by the Baucus Committee
3. Bill Moyers interviews Wendell Potter on PBS
4. 51% favor Obama’s health care plan
5. Health Care Reform Bill expected in August