As the Washington Post explained yesterday, “under the Baucus plan, subsidies would be offered to people who earn up to 400 percent of the poverty level ($43,000 for an individual or $88,000 for a family of four)… The credit would be calibrated on a sliding scale to ensure that people at the bottom of the income range paid no more than 3 percent of their earnings for premiums while those at the top would be liable for as much as 13 percent.” “That would amount to more than $700 a month for a family of four making $66,000 a year — significantly more than most people at the same income level now pay, according to research conducted by Linda Blumberg, a senior fellow in the Health Policy Center at the Urban Institute.”

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/09/16/baucus-rockefeller/

May I respectfully ask, who gives a shit what Olympia Snowe thinks ? Just how much of the complexity of anything - ANYTHING - does this person understand ?

It seems like the gang of six really wasted a lot of time to come up with a piece of garbarge. Baucas and Conrad probably received a lot of lobby money...no words from Bingaman?

Remember last week when Baucaus also wanted the Climate Change bill? I can only hope that Reid gives him a resounding Hell NO...followed by a lot of other unprintable words.

I try to think through the method to see if there is a political upside and in this case, I see nothing for the DEMS.

Perhaps it is true, small state senators don't give a damn about the citizens of this country!

ROCKY!

From the CBO analysis of the Baucus plan:

By 2019, CBO and JCT estimate, the number of nonelderly people who are uninsured would be reduced by about 29 million, leaving about 25 million nonelderly residents uninsured (about one-third of whom would be unauthorized immigrants). Under the proposal, the share of legal nonelderly residents with insurance coverage would rise from about 83 percent currently to about 94 percent. Roughly 25 million people would purchase coverage through the new insurance exchanges, and there would be roughly 11 million more enrollees in Medicaid than is projected under current law. (The proposed co-ops had very little effect on the estimates of total enrollment in the exchanges or federal costs because, as they are described in the specifications, they seem unlikely to establish a significant market presence in many areas of the country or to noticeably affect federal subsidy payments.) The number of people purchasing individual coverage outside the exchanges or obtaining coverage through employers would decline slightly, relative to currently projected levels.

Yet more proof that co-ops are the solution to a political problem, not a practical problem.

I still think even a Baucus style bill would be a step even the right direction, and better than no bill at all. The CBO likes the Finance Committee's new reimbursement procedures, designed to control swelling health care costs. Assuming the CBO analysis is correct, I think there's lots to like in the Baucus bill, even if it's not everyone's ideal solution.

Max Baucus: I’ll Co-opt GOP on Co-ops, Who Gave Me No Co-operation
http://satiricalpolitical.com/?p=8849

Coops are just weak and could fail easily. PO will not have the problems getting off the ground.

Second, Baucus' bill has a minimal subsidy for compulsory health insurance. The House bills are better, and provide much more.

Bacusu' "cost savings" are on the backs of the working class.

Thank you Rockefeller!

Get real TMP'ers!

Baucus was always a sham ....

This Senator Baucus (D-Mont) guy is certainly a time-waster. All his work and Republicans still not aboard, huh?

The health care industry is the problem–they like their business model fine– insure who they want–the healthy–and deny or limit coverage to all others. They also pay top-dollar to make sure our politicians see things their way.

The Obama “health reform” will deliver 30-50 million uninsured to the private health care industry. The government will subsidize these folks. The money to pay for all this will come out of the hides of Medicare patients–their services and payments will be reduced.

Result–insurers rake in more billions and the government foots the bill. Big, socialized government is OK as long as it takes from the poor and gives to rich.

There is a way out of this mess and it’s called Medicare for all (aka Single Payer) –let the rest of the country have the same fine federal government coverage that Senator Baucus has.

Wow, must have stumbled upon a pair of brass ones!

Rockefeller for the win. tell max to go whipe his ass with that bill

Is Baucus crazy? He was in Congress when the catastrophic care addition to Medicare had to be rescinded and that bill only taxed a senior couple $800/year on a $40,000 income. People will not be able to pay for this health insurance; you can't get that kind of money from them because they have too many bills to pay now. This bill needs to be completely re-thougt. My cat could write a better healthcare bill and he hasn't been studying it for the past year.