Pro-Insurance Democrats Kill Public Option
The Senate Finance Committee just voted on the amendment by John Rockefeller to add a public option back into the committee’s health care reform legislation. Last year, during campaign season, the committee’s chair, Max Baucus, told voters that he’d support a public option. He said it was a great idea.
Then, insurance companies had a little discussion with Senator Baucus. They had access to him, given that their executives had donated so much to his re-election campaign. So, after the election, Baucus changed his tune. He declared himself in opposition to the public option. This summer, Baucus announced that he had crafted health care reform legislation of his own. The legislation would protect insurance companies from the competition that a public option would create. It would preserve the status quo, providing minimal assistance to Americans who can’t afford to pay the high rates insurance companies currently charge for health care coverage.
Who voted for the public option? Who voted for the Baucus defense of the status quo? The vote didn’t break down purely by party line. Not one Republican was willing to stand up for meaningful health care reform, but some Democrats did cross over and vote to help the Republicans defend the interests of insurance company. Here’s how the vote came out:
Max Baucus- D – No
Blanche Lincoln – D – No
Kent Conrad – D – No
Bill Nelson – D – No
Tom Carper – D – No
Charles Grassley – R – No
Orrin Hatch – R – No
Olympia Snowe – R – No
Jon Kyl – R – No
Jim Bunning – R – No
Mike Crapo – R – No
Pat Roberts – R – No
John Ensign – R – No
Michael Enzi – R – No
John Cornyn – R – No
John Rockefeller – D – Yes
John Kerry – D – Yes
Charles Schumer – D – Yes
Jeff Bingaman – D – Yes
Ron Wyden – D – Yes
Debbie Stabenow – D – Yes
Maria Cantwell – D – Yes
Robert Menendez – D – Yes
That’s 8 for the public option – 15 against.
Yes, the Republicans have responsibility for this outcome, the death of meaningful health care reform. However, it’s the right-leaning Democrats who made the difference. In a year where they have a veto-proof majority in the Senate, a Democratic House, and a Democratic President, they chose to coddle insurance companies instead of serving the American people.
Democrats may have the majority of seats in the Senate, but the Republicans still appear to have the control. The Democratic-Republican distinction appears not to have anything near the meaning as the progressive-regressive split, and the progressives are clearly in the minority.
I hope that you will vote in favor of the health care reform with public option,its a disgrace that not all democrat are voting to help pass a reform that is long overdue in our country, shame on them I hope that they will not be reelected.
Thank you .
Marie
[...] This afternoon, there were two attempts in the Senate Finance Committee to repair some of the damage done to health care reform by Chairman Max Baucus, a Democrat who has received a great deal of campaign finance from executives in the medical industry, and has accordingly crafted health care legislation designed in order to protect insurance companies. Two amendments attempted to reinsert a public option of government-established health care coverage, but both amendments were defeated by a coalition of Republicans and pro-industry Democrats. [...]
[...] insurance. Telling us all that we need to buy insurance industry products on the very day when insurance industry lobbyists managed to kill the public option was a tacky, tacky [...]
[...] This afternoon, there were two attempts in the Senate Finance Committee to repair some of the damage done to health care reform by Chairman Max Baucus, a Democrat who has received a great deal of campaign finance from executives in the medical industry, and has accordingly crafted health care legislation designed in order to protect insurance companies. Two amendments attempted to reinsert a public option of government-established health care coverage, but both amendments were defeated by a coalition of Republicans and pro-industry Democrats. [...]
Please do not vote for this health care reform. So much of what I hear about it is scary.
Like what? What’s so scary about reforming health care so that more people can receive appropriate medical care?
I believe that health care reform is much needed. My feelings on this subject are that allowing health insurance companies to operate acrosst state lines would create competition and lower premium costs. I believe that a tax credit culd be given to people who need to acquire insurance. I believe that tort reform should be enacted as it has been effective in lowering health care costs in areas where it has been enacted. There are also many ways to provide health care coverage for the needy without the federal government passing such a massive health care bill which the people of this country know nothing about. This bill has been drafted behind closed doors and its total content is unknown to “WE THE PEOPLE” This bill in it’s pesent form would start taxing people now, but would have no benefits until 2013. I’ve always read the contents of any important issue before I sign the papers, as I hope this legislative office will do. In this instance I feel that we are being forced to accept this bill, no questions asked, and this does not set well with me. I believe that there are many more commonsense ways to provide health care insurance to the 25-30 million people without coverage than changing coverage that 270 million people already have and are more or less happy with it.
Well, that’s good, James, because the House and Senate bills don’t change the insurance coverage people already have – except that the House version takes away aspects women’s family planning coverage.
How can you say that the bills are being forced without any questions asked, when they’ve been debated for months, with town hall meetings across the nation, and have been through committee hearings in both houses of Congress? There have been a great number of questions asked, and answered.