That, to make a long story short, is the long ballyhooed proposal of Montana Sen. Max Baucu$, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, on healthcare.
Baucu$ has sung a great song when it came to his support of a real public option during numerous appearances, but does his proposal INCLUDE a public option?
No.
What he proposed is a weak co-op with little, if any, accountability.
Does he really think this will pass as real healthcare reform? I think it passes more as snake oil instead of reform.
Here's what The Bagof Health and Politics observed in his Daily Kos diary called "The Moral Case Against the Baucus Bill":
If Baucus bill passes, millions of Americans will face a 13 percent tax hike in order to line the pockets of Baucus' insurance CEO buddies.
Since Senator Baucus shut progressives out of his negotiations, I will take the opportunity to explain my concerns, as a progressive. I have no problems with an individual mandate...as long as that mandate comes with strict restrictions on insurance industry profit and insurance industry executive compensation.
The current system, despite Baucus claims to the contrary, would be largely untouched by the Baucus bill. The problem with that is that the current system creates incentives for bad practices. Insurers try to please Wall Street by lowering their medical loss ratio. In layman's terms, that means insurance companies try to increase their stock price by denying cancer patients and abuse victims the medical care that they need in order to live healthy lives.
Is this the definition of change we can believe in? I dare say no.
I hope the Baucu$ bill reaches the trash heap as fast as possible so real healthcare reform proposals that will really rein in insurance companies while providing real competition and really affordable prices for Americans at large.
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