The Baucus bill creates a new ombudsman office that will “act as a consumer advocate.” This is a good idea. The problem is that Baucus makes the new ombudsman’s office nearly worthless by dramatically restricting individual ability to seek help with their insurance companies. According to Baucus’s mark: Policyholders whose health insurers have rejected claims [...]

Rep. Nadler: At least some of us ARE fighting back, and in the health care fight, the public option is still very much alive only because the progressives have stood together and held our ground and said that, regardless of what the President or Leadership says, we won’t vote for any bill w/o a public option.

Recently, Mike Ross sent a letter to his constituents saying, “I remain opposed to a government-run public option,” and called the idea “controversial.” Daily Kos just published a new poll by Research 2000 showing that a plurality of Ross’ district support the public option. Forty-seven percent of those polled favor creating a “government-administered health insurance [...]

Whose district needs to know that their rhetoric just isn’t matching up with their actions?

Vote now:

Mike Ross (D-Ark) sent a letter to his constituents praising the Baucus bill.

Ross used most of the letter to strongly endorse Conrad’s small, state-based co-ops idea. This should surprise no one given the overwhelming evidence that Ross has been working directly and/or indirectly with Conrad to get the co-ops idea included in the House bill.

This “safety net” trigger is worthless. Baucus’ bill already mandates the government provide sufficient tax credits to make sure the outlined trigger conditions would never be met. Basically the only way the “safety net” plan will ever be trigger is if the federal government violates its own laws. If the government is violating its own laws about providing sufficient tax credits, why should we believe that it will ever follow the law by then creating this “safety net” plan? This is not public policy, this is pure theater.

A total of three different public options have been offered as amendments to Baucus’ bill. The three public options run the gamut from the robust to the weak. The best and most robust public option is the one submitted by Senator Rockefeller. It resembles the robust public option originally proposed in the House. It would [...]

The latest report is that there are over 540 amendments filed for the mark-up process of the bill by Senator Baucus in the Senate Finance Committee. According to Politico’s Live Pulse column, the amendments will be divided into three distinct subject areas: delivery system reform, coverage, and financing. The Senate Finance Committee staff says that [...]

Friday night, Rachel Maddow hosted FireDogLake founder Jane Hamsher to discuss FDL Action PAC’s efforts in Arkansas to hold Blanche Lincoln and Blue Doggie Mike Ross accountable to their constituents who want Public Option as part of health care reform.