Its time to primary Baucus. 'Nuff said.

Wouldn't be surprised if this is the foreshadowing of the co-op plan, as we've been expecting.

Also wouldn't be surprised if we weren't being baited by the AP Washington bureau--no friends of health care, Democrats, or responsible journalism they.

Whether truth or simply bait, it is another reminder that we must keep the pressure on every Democrat everyday until we get a decent public option passed. If we have to expose the bribes and corruption, so be it. A corrupt DEM is no better than a Republican. We have to put the people in the country above the Party.

This is such a farce. Baucus has spent months pleading for 1-2 republican votes that he doesn't need to get a bill out of committee that most democrats will reject.

In the end, the Republicans aren't going to vote for anything that can pass the Democratic senate so this has all been a huge waste of time.

That's what happens when you've been in the senate for 31 years. All you know how to do is talk and waste time. Total loser.

I'm against an employer mandate because it prevents many employees from understanding how costly health insurance and medical spending really are, but a public option is a must have.

Do you realise that this is the DEFINITION of a private insurance subsidy?

HuffPost has this story. It says No PO. If this is true, the Dems can kiss away their seats. This will infuriorate everybody. Here is the link.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/27/senate-group-dropping-dem_n_245839.html

However, it is from the AP, and I am suspicious of their editor, Frontier, who is pro-GOP. Also, CNN, says Kennedy is talking with Obama, so Obama may not sign this bill if there is no PO.

Maybe Kennedy will be able to journey to DC to save this legislation? This has been his life's work.

If this is the final result than I would rather the liberals find their spines and filibuster the bill. Seriously, you people think the progressives trust Obama right now? He turning out to be another best Republican president evah(see:William Jefferson Clinton.) You want healthcare reform. Pass a consitutional amendment not allowing elected officials to receive federal health benefits including medicare and not allow them to gain health benefits from their spouses employed by the feds either. Let Max go out and get his own private insurance. And same goes for Ted Kennedy,Arlen Specter and Tim Johnson. Let Max face these three who wouldn't be able to be covered under his plan. Furthermore, make sure D.C. and Maryland have the same Wild West socially Darwinistic insurance laws so that they can't get insurance there.

Of course we don't know how the media or the republicans will act, do we??

Thanks for being snide.

And I will put my "predictions" up against your "work" any day.

BTW....if you had your head out of your butt you would remember I predicted Obamas victory during the time you were fighting another year old irrelavant theory.

Thanks for not being able to see whats important.

Baucas and the republicans thank you too.

Seriously, we have allowed this tiny and spineless group of snakes to hold us hostage. It is very obvious that they ran for office for the limited power, enriching themselves and planning for their futures in the corporate sector. That is the only reason that they could turn their backs on the people this way. They don't deserve power, because they don't know how to use it. Baucus and Conrad are shameful.
Any democrat that would give them another dime is a complete fool. I became an Independent because I simply didn't want to be affiliated with them anymore. The public option should have been single payer in the first place!

In which situation would the Finance committee's version of the bill be easier to override? If the finance committee included no mention of a public option? Or if it included a "co-op"?

President Obama has announced three bedrock requirements for real health care reform:

Reduce Costs — Rising health care costs are crushing the budgets of governments, businesses, individuals and families and they must be brought under control
Guarantee Choice — Every American must have the freedom to choose their plan and doctor – including the choice of a public insurance option
Ensure Quality Care for All — All Americans must have quality and affordable health care

these are the bottom line of negotiation; anything else will be a failure and we the people will hold those like baucus and all other blue tics like him who owe their political survival to the health care industry.

Does anyone remember this onion article from 2001? It seems rather relevant now:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/33420

Again, what will come out of the Finance Committee is not necessarily, or even probably, what will come out of conference.

If the conference bill lacks the public option, or any satisfactory equivalent that isn't a public option, then you can scream all you like. But it might be that the conference bill has one, and then the Democrats may use reconciliation to get around a filibuster, Blue Dogs or no Blue Dogs.

We have only the information that's available to the public, and I respectfully submit to the panicking members of this thread that there may be more to know about the process of getting this passed. The Speaker and Majority Leader need not only please you, the least compromising of its constituency, but also protect members of their majorities from as much damage as possible to ensure passage of these bills. It's not easy. So stop ascribing cowardice and cupidity to the reluctant members, because not everybody in the House and Senate Democratic caucuses will have taken equal risks in their districts or states to support this bill.

We're here because we're smarter and better than the opposition. Let's give ourselves a full chance to prove it.

Boy I sure wish Hillary was in there kicking the Blue Dogs butts from one end of the capital to the other right now.

I imagine a conference room with Big Pharma sitting in comfy chairs -- while our elected officials kneel before them and apologize profusely for having to inconvenience their corporate overloads by even pretending to give a shit about what their ignorant unwashed constituents want/need.

Democrats sure know how to piss away an upper hand.

This goes back to the question of whether you want a bipartisan senate bill.

Right now, Democrats have a massive majority. Seriously, in the post-civil rights years, I don't believe that either party has controlled the senate with 60 seats. So, there are forty Republicans, and vast majority of those Republicans are very conservative -- and they're from very conservative places. Hey, no offense to you Mississippians, but Mississippi isn't like the rest of American. South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama aren't either. Yet, all those states have two Republican senators.

So, obtaining a bipartisan bill seems ridiculous. We don't have people who, philosophically, agree with us. If Max wants to run up the bipartisan ladder, that is fine, but my hunch is that at the end of the day, there is going to be a negotiation between Democrats. That's it. There may be some GOP House folks -- Erik Paulsen, for example -- who support the final bill, but it's unlikely that there will be any GOP senators if it has a public option. And, that is fine. We need to really stop this idea of bipartisan=fair. Bipartisan gave us the Iraq War.

We need our leader to get out there -- in Montana, frankly, and it Maine and in North Dakota -- and explain why we need a public option. We need to know about the incredible concentration that insurers have. The free market? How is that free market working in Arkansas where BCBS controls 75% of the market share? How about in Georgia, where Wellpoint controls 70% of the market share. With respect to health care, without a government competitor -- without a USPS for example -- those entities that control market share won't lower premiums. They won't insure more folks -- and we'll all continue to pay more.

So, let's take a deep breath and let's get on the phone to our senators and our representatives. We need a good bill, not just any bill, and we need it to be universal.