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Democrats Slam Baucus Bill

September 16, 2009 (LPAC)—Pelosi's House Democratic Steering Committee of Democratic committee chairmen held a hearing on healthcare reform Tuesday morning. Witnesses at the hearing slammed Max Baucus's Senate Finance Committee bill to be unveiled Wednesday, according to coverage in the Wall Street Journal, and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel criticized the Baucus bill and Obama's congressional address.

Rangel said, "I have to admit the restrictions that the President has given in his speech, as well as the proposed discussions in the Senate, have caused us more problems than among our three [House] bills." Of Obama's proposed $900 billion cost for the bill, he said, "That's $100 billion short.

"When you talk about cutting funding, you're talking about cutting subsidies," Rangel said. "This is not like shaving off things; this is reducing coverage for poor and working people. That's where you're going."

Witness James Hacker, a Yale political science professor, attacked the Baucus plan for allowing a 7.5-fold variation in insurance premiums based on individuals' tobacco use, age, and family composition. "You're talking about a situation in which the very people who we most need to insure, will be the least capable of getting coverage at all," he said.

The witness from AARP, its board chairman Bonnie Cramer, pointed to part of Baucus' proposal which would allow companies to charge five times more for premiums based on age, while the House bills would only allow premiums to double based on age. She said the AARP "cannot support other proposals under consideration that would allow insurers to charge older Americans five or more times higher premiums, simply because they are older."

Wendell Potter, a former Cigna executive who turned against the HMOs, said that provisions in the Baucus proposal "would actually drive millions more Americans who currently have comprehensive coverage, into the ranks of the underinsured."

Later in the day, Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) told a Campaign for America's Future conference call, "There is no way in its present form I will vote for" the Baucus bill. Rockefeller is a member of Baucus's Senate Finance Committee, but not one of the group of six members who have been negotiating the Baucus bill.

"I have sat beside Max Baucus for 22 years on the Finance Committee. I'm probably his best friend among Democrats on the Finance Committee, but I cannot agree to this bill." Rockefeller said he will vote against the bill in the committee markup scheduled to begin next Tuesday, unless it is changed "in vast amounts," according to The Hill.

In a related development, David Espo of Associated Press reported today that none of the House or Senate bills meet the requirement of Obama's joint-session address, that people with pre-existing medical conditions can immediately get insurance. Emergency consultations are underway to add this to the bills. And no bill meets Obama's stated requirement for Medicare drug benefits.


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