Baucus earns his healthcare industry funding

  • September 29, 2009 3:26 pm

On “The Ed Show” Monday night I said Montana Sen. Max Baucus had to decide whether he represented Montana or the insurance industry. Tuesday he made his choice, voting against both public option amendments to the healthcare reform bill in the Senate Finance Committee.

All the Democrats who voted against the public option should be ashamed, but Baucus most of all. The Senate Finance Committee chair’s reasoning was bizarre. According to Salon’s Mike Madden, whose coverage today was terrific, Baucus admitted “the public option would help hold insurance companies’ feet to the fire,” then added, “But my first job is to get this bill across the finish line.”

Read more: http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/politics/2009/09/29/baucus

Obama’s Health Care Agenda Arrives In Washington

  • January 15, 2009 4:39 am

President George W. Bush spent his first year focused on education, culminating with the passage of the No Child Left Behind bill. Barack Obama appears poised to do the same with health care.

Obama hasn’t laid out his plans, but one pillar has always been to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). This $8 billion program provides money to states that offer health care coverage for kids whose families are uninsured but earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. It’s on the fast track.

Read more: http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/15/obama-hospitals-schip-biz-healthcare-cz_dw_0115schip.html