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Well, whadda ya know--Baucus sees a train wreck coming

Faster horses

Well-known member
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A senior Democratic senator who helped write President Barack Obama's health care law stunned administration officials Wednesday, saying openly he thinks it's headed for a "train wreck."

"I just see a huge train wreck coming down," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., told Obama's health care chief during a routine budget hearing that suddenly turned tense.

Baucus is the first top Democrat to publicly voice fears about the rollout of the new health care law, designed to bring coverage to some 30 million uninsured Americans through a mix of government programs and tax credits for private insurance that start next year.

The six-term Democrat is also expected to face a tough re-election in 2014. Baucus is still trying to recover from approval ratings that nosedived amid displeasure with the health care law in his home state.

Normally low-key and supportive, Baucus challenged Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at Wednesday's hearing.

He said he's "very concerned" that new health insurance marketplaces for consumers and small businesses will not open on time in every state, and that if they do, they might just flop because residents don't have the information they need to make choices.

"The administration's public information campaign on the benefits of the Affordable Care Act deserves a failing grade," he told Sebelius. "You need to fix this."

Responding to Baucus, Sebelius pointedly noted that Republicans in Congress last year blocked funding for carrying out the health care law, and she had to resort to raiding other departmental funds that were legally available to her.

The administration is asking for $1.5 billion in next year's budget, and Republicans don't seem willing to grant that either.

"I don't know what he's looking at," Sebelius told reporters following her out of the room after Baucus adjourned the hearing. "But we are on track to fully implement marketplaces in Jan. 2014, and to be open for open enrollment."

That open-enrollment launch is only months away, Oct. 1. It's when millions of middle-class consumers who don't get coverage through their jobs will be able to start shopping for a private plan in the new marketplaces, or exchanges. They'll also be able to find out if they qualify for tax credits that will lower their premiums. At the same time, low-income people will be steered to government programs, mainly an expanded version of Medicaid.

But half the states, most of them Republican-led, have refused to cooperate in setting up the infrastructure of Obama's law. Others, like Montana, are politically divided. The overhaul law provided that the federal government would step in and run the new markets if a state failed to do so. Envisioned as a fallback, federal control now looks like it will be the norm in about half the country, straining the resources of the department Sebelius leads.
 

Whitewing

Well-known member
And, true to form for the King's administration, this is not their fault.

Responding to Baucus, Sebelius pointedly noted that Republicans in Congress last year blocked funding for carrying out the health care law, and she had to resort to raiding other departmental funds that were legally available to her.

:roll: :roll: :roll:

The buck stops anywhere but at the top.
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
I'm actually surprised she didn't say "It is Bush's fault."

I was wowed enough with Baucus making a statement against
it. He must really be worried about being re-elected.
 

Steve

Well-known member
The six-term Democrat is also expected to face a tough re-election in 2014. Baucus is still trying to recover from approval ratings that nosedived

so much for principles.. seems like all he cares about is getting re-elected..
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Yes, but since Oldtimer and "the majority of Americans" favor Obamacare, Baucus and anyone else that see a trainwreck in the making are WRONG. :roll:

Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 1:25 pm Post subject: Public Option has Majority Support!

Oldtimer said:
What a "socialistic" move-- actually doing what the majority has asked for and wants :wink:

Public option gains support
CLEAR MAJORITY NOW BACKS PLAN


By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 20, 2009

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that support for a government-run health-care plan to compete with private insurers has rebounded from its summertime lows and wins clear majority support from the public.

Americans remain sharply divided about the overall packages moving closer to votes in Congress and President Obama's leadership on the issue, reflecting the partisan battle that has raged for months over the administration's top legislative priority. But sizable majorities back two key and controversial provisions: both the so-called public option and a new mandate that would require all Americans to carry health insurance.
====================
On the issue that has been perhaps the most pronounced flash point in the national debate, 57 percent of all Americans now favor a public insurance option, while 40 percent oppose it. Support has risen since mid-August, when a bare majority, 52 percent, said they favored it. (In a June Post-ABC poll, support was 62 percent.)

If a public plan were run by the states and available only to those who lack affordable private options, support for it jumps to 76 percent. Under those circumstances, even a majority of Republicans, 56 percent, would be in favor of it, about double their level of support without such a limitation.

Fifty-six percent of those polled back a provision mandating that all Americans buy insurance, either through their employers or on their own or through Medicare or Medicaid. That number rises to 71 percent if the government were to provide subsidies for many lower-income Americans to help them buy coverage. With those qualifiers, a majority of Republicans say they support the mandate.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/19/AR2009101902451.html?nav=hcmoduletmv

http://ranchers.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40020&highlight=obamacare
 

Mike

Well-known member
OT thinks anything that is backed by the majority is best. :roll:

Frankly, I'm glad Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, etc. didn't fall for that.. they had a hard time recruiting soldiers for the Revolution against Britain, but with will power succeeded.
 

Whitewing

Well-known member
What a riot that quote of OT's. :lol:

Does he actually think that if a majority wants something, then it can't be socialistic?

Apparently so. :roll:

He gets dumber by the day.
 

Tam

Well-known member
This is one majority poll that Oldtimer didn't give a damn about and neither did Obama or Baucus :x

Democrats in Congress are vowing to pass their national healthcare plan with a vote in the House possible by the end of this week. But most voters still oppose the plan the same way they have for months.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 43 percent favor the healthcare plan proposed by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats, while 53 percent oppose it. Those findings include 23 percent who “strongly favor” the plan and 46 percent who “strongly oppose” it.

The numbers are virtually unchanged from last week and are consistent with findings in regular tracking going back to just after Thanksgiving.

Democrats continue to overwhelmingly support the plan, while Republicans and voters not affiliated with either party strongly oppose it.

Opposition continues to stem in part from unchanging views that the plan will drive up the cost and worsen the quality of healthcare in America.

Fifty-seven percent of voters also believe the healthcare reform plan now working its way through Congress will hurt the U.S. economy.

Despite the plan’s stated goal of reducing healthcare costs, 55 percent of voters believe the cost of healthcare will go up if the Democrats’ plan becomes law. Just 18 percent say it will make costs go down. Twenty percent predict costs will stay about the same.

And gee what was it that Sebilius said about the Healthcare premiums not too long ago? OH YEA

That people will see their premiums go up due to Obamacare.

What was it Obama said about people taxes not going up? OH YEA they wouldn't. BULL

And what was it the Doctors said about the care people will be receiving from their skyrocketing healthcare premiums? OH YEA

The 2011 National Physicians Survey, conducted by Thomson Reuters/HCPlexus and polling almost 3,000 American doctors, shows that while Obamacare would raise spending, premiums, overall U.S. health costs, and debt, it wouldn't raise the quality of American health care. Rather, by a margin of well over 3 to 1, doctors expect the quality of American health care to decline over the next five years, in the wake of Obamacare's passage: Only 18 percent of doctors expect the quality of health care to "improve," while a whopping 65 percent expect it to "deteriorate."


To bad Baucus hadn't listened to the MAJORITY and avoided the train wreck by voting no, but he was just like Oldtimer, he thought he knew better than the majority that opposed it and was willing to spend billions the US doesn't have to test Obama's US destroying plan/TRAIN WRECK. I hope he is proud of himself for not reading the bill and realizing it was not a workable plan from the get go. I just don't know how some of these idiots can look themselves in the mirror anymore after bankrupting the US and putting their Grandchildren in lifelong debt so they can stay in power by buying votes with freebies. :roll:
 
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