A few days ago, I wrote  that the CBO screwed up Ron Wyden’s amendment by failing to fully score it, after telling Wyden that they had.  As a result, Max Baucus wouldn’t let it come up for a vote on the Senate Finance Committee.  Wyden is now threatening to vote against the entire bill, which [...]

As I get more information about Cantwell’s “basic health plan” amendment the more I like it. (The modified amendment is available here.) I really wish Cantwell would stop calling it a public option. It is not a public option. I think it is an idea which should be debated on its own merits and not [...]

Some people are troubled by the huge amount of power the Baucus Bill would give to the non-governmental organization, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The NAIC is made up of the insurance commissioners from all 50 states, DC, and five US territories. His bill would give the NAIC the power to devise: Model Regulation [...]

Directly following the debate over Rockefeller’s robust public option amendment, the Senate Finance Committee next addressed Senator Chuck Schumer’s “level playing field” public option. The debate was much shorter and mainly repeated the same argues for or against Rockefeller’s amendment. Schumer’s public option amendment also failed, but by a smaller margin, 10-13 Again, all ten [...]

When the Senate Finance Committee starts work again on Tuesday things should get heated. Here are some of the more interesting amendments to watch out for. Free Choice Amendment – Wyden C1 : What it hopes to do: It would allow employees who do not like their current employer provided health insurance to ask for [...]

It is not often that progressives and the Wall Street Journal are in complete agreement, but sometimes the facts are plain for everyone to see. The Wall Street Journal is running a story today about what a massive boon to the for-profit health insurance corporations Baucus’s health care bill would be. The health-system overhaul proposed [...]

The Los Angeles Times highlighted today a troubling aspect of Baucus’s health care reform bill. The bill basically gives a non-governmental non-profit, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners the power to write law. From Baucus’s Mark: Enforcement Mechanism. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) will devise an NAIC Model Regulation within 12 months of [...]

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said at the begining of today’s hearing that there would not be time to get to the public option amendments today. He expects to debate and vote on the public option amendments on Tuesday. Yesterday, Sen. Schumer and Rockefeller pushed hard for a vote today on their public option [...]

Sen. Bill Nelson proposed an amendment which would fill the Medicare part D dough nut hole. He would pay for the change by making the pharmaceutical industry pay a rebate for the overcharging of dual eligible Medicare/Medicaid seniors. The amendment would fully cover the cost of filling the donut hole and provide an additional $50 [...]

The Los Angeles Times has good piece addressing one of the most underreported problems with the Baucus plan for health care “reform.” The Baucus bill lacks sufficient mechanisms to slow the out of control increase in insurance premiums.