The Whole Delivery

The nutcase party were throwing their arms in their usual fake outrage over President Obama recess appointing Don Berwick (and they still are doing just so , blocking more appointees as usual) . But when it comes to former Wellpoint Vice President, proud Max Baucus buddy buddy, and proud author of the health insurance reform bill Liz Fowler becoming the director of Consumer Information and Oversight at HHS , there is not even a single word from them. It already is bad enough that this figure from that company gets to implemented the bill, (although since she wrote it, I guess it is only fitting). But the nutcase party only gets loud and immature again over the guy in charge of Medicare and Medicaid being placed in his position while they were on their lovely enjoyable break. I wonder what happened to all that vehement defending of those two public health care systems that they had moments ago? And I wonder what also happened to all the condemnation for the executive office re...

As the "Jobs for Main Street Act" possibly gets a final vote tomorrow , lost in the discussion of the bill has been the absence of a needed extension for unemployment benefits. Now Harry Reid has already pledged an extension for COBRA (The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation ACT for those who wanted the know the technical meaning of COBRA like me). That piece of news seems like "problem solved, right?" Well, that's until you see that the Senate Majority Leader has pledged the extension for only 15 days . To say Reid's move is "beyond baffling" is being polite. And it's getting the deserved criticism that it merits: "Unemployment offices are really really going to have a huge problem," said Judy Conti, a lobbyist for the NELP. "They can't handle this two-weeks-at-a-time stuff. It keeps them in a constant state of flux. This is going to create more work for them when they can least afford it." Rich Hobbie...

It is disastrous. Now I of course don't give a single care in the world for the crapiest bill of the year . But even its only good standout characteristic shouldn't be a symbol for right-wing nutty assailment. This is how Malky Malks responded on Twitter in her usual lunatic way : She gets a "Tweet" from a Fixed Propaganda guy about how much the bill will cost. Thankfully, a response was given to her from Mike Madden showing her that the Baucus' crap bill will reduce the deficit and be paid for fully. But still, that didn't stop the right-wing point of showing how "expensive" it will be, if Baucus disaster was implemented, instead of telling the WHOLE story from getting into the corporate media. Including that good ol' liberal plague driven network that is MSNBC. Just take a look. Hell, the right-wing talking point even got into Twitter of all places with its description of why the "CBO" was trending yesterday. Even Twitter isn't...

Baucus and Kent Conrad are probably the only two excited.......and the health insurance companies : The Senate Finance Committee’s health reform bill will save the federal government $81 billion over the next 10 years, according to the much-anticipated Congressional Budget Office estimate released this afternoon. CBO found that subsidizing the coverage expansion will cost $518 billion** over a decade, partly offset by taxing high-cost insurance plans ($201 billion), trimming Medicare rates “for most services” ($162 billion), and cutting subsidies to the private insurance companies that cover Medicare patients ($117 billion). The total cost of the bill over a decade would be $829 billion, according to the CBO score. Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) had delayed the panel’s vote on the sweeping health reform bill until the CBO score was issued. No word yet on when that vote will take place. So, can we score single payer and a strong robust public option please.

I guess all of that guidance from the insurance companies have not only made almost everyone outside of Washington angry at him. It has also caused an apparent force between the most liberal colleagues of his own party. And the tension is growing . The Senate Finance Committee vote won't happen today. It has been pushed back until later this week or even next week, ostensibly so the CBO can come up with a final score. But it may have more to do with the fact that they don't have the votes. And now it looks like Ron Wyden might be in that column too . Since Baucus can only lose one Democrat and still get something through a committee with 13 Democrats and 10 Republicans, he has to bring one of them back on the reservation. I got a tip last week shortly after Wyden's midnight outburst, when he was told that the CBO messed up and didn't score his amendment and therefore there would be no vote. I called around and was able to substantiate most (but not all) of it with ...

This guy needs to be a Senator now, because he sure would be a hell of a lot smarter and honest than Baucus This man's name is, if you didn't click on the link, Dr.Quentin Young. He served as MLK's physician when King was in Chicago. Give him and his "Mad As Hell Doctors" group some love. Because they care about you, and probably share with your angry today at sellout Democrats to the lobbyist again.

Just the latest evidence to the bill that everyone hates accepts the insurance lobby and buddy buddy liar Conrad. When you read the amendments Senator Rockefeller offered to the Senate Finance Committee bill, you can see how many of these amendments are meant to address the various loopholes in the Senate Finance Committee bill. However, there's one giant loophole in the Baucus bill and it's a problematic loophole in which the regulations such as the ban on pre-existing conditions, rating rules, recission policies, and denials of claims won't apply to over 70 million Americans who work for large companies. However, under legislation in the Senate Finance Committee, the new rules would not apply to people who work for large companies that self-insure, meaning the employer pays health care claims out of its revenue rather than relying on a private insurer, says Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. "They can be cut off; there are no caps," says Rockefeller, the second-hi...

No one could have: And get this from the one and only Ms. Hamsher : The speed with which all the videos were yanked from YouTube etc. indicates that there was unhappiness with Mr. McEntee's speech in some sectors. But the AFSCME page inviting you to tell the Senate Finance Committee how you feel about the bill is still up. Lucky for us, Jane and crew got the video. Because Youtube thankfully is not the only video uploading website on the net. And that my friends was the most proper way to use the word "BS" like no other.

The clowns really did get this right, through they can be accused of not reading their Chyron 101 book again: This time through, maybe they got it purposely right.

Everyone hates it. Howard Dean : "The Baucus bill is the worst piece of healthcare legislation I've seen in 30 years," Dean said last night at a healthcare town hall and book signing in Washington. "In fact, it's a $60 billion giveaway to the health insurance industry every year," he said. "It was written by healthcare lobbyists, so that's not a surprise. It's an outrage." Jay Rockefeller “I’ll have many, many, many amendments,” he said. “There is no way I can vote for Sen. Baucus’ plan for many reasons.” Wendell Potter: No one likes this crap bill, and have blown it out the water. Everyone except the insurance companies and the stock market . But you know what I think (yeah, like you really care and all). Baucus' own bill even hates its own self!!!

The health insurance lobbyist bill is about to come out from Max Baucus' hands today , and let's just say that there will be plenty of people on the nation's left that won't be satisfied with it. Most importantly though, is whether the main people fighting in the front lines for a public option will still fight for this bill to not be the final one on Obama's desk at the duration of this upmost critical issue. And it appears that they will fight : House Democrats tried Tuesday to reframe the debate over their health overhaul bill as negotiators in the Senate urgently sought elusive bipartisan compromise a day ahead of their planned bill release. House Democratic leaders summoned a panel of friendly witnesses to a public hearing on Capitol Hill where they solicited testimonials aimed at dispelling opposition to their legislation. The House Democrats' bill took a beating during the August recess after passing three committees without a single Republican vote. ...

This is what Baucus gets for doing this yesterday Good. Bypass him at all cost, no matter how much he yells that he is bypassing the Republicans.

Will you bypass them like you are doing Republicans supposedly ? Senate Finance Committee chariman Max Baucus (D-MT) told reporters today that he's moving forward on his health care proposal with or without Republicans. He said that the trigger concept hasn't really been discussed in his panel's negotiation, and that he's increasingly of the belief that a public option can not pass the Senate. "I will move forward anyway," Baucus said. "We have to move forward. I told Chuck Grassley that." Well, will you tell BlueShield and the rest of the health insurance CEO's the same about moving forward? The people need to know so they won't waste their time with your quotes.

The question really begs like no other at this point. One answer maybe getting it out of the hands of the ultimate lobbyist puppet Though they were largely closed out of negotiations over health care legislation for the last several weeks, some members of the Senate Finance Committee--including Sens. Schumer, Rockefeller, and Kerry--do support a public option. But though Baucus' draft falls far short on that score, they'll almost certainly vote to move it forward anyhow. "If they vote against it, it won't be in the Finance committee," says a Senate Democratic aide. Once it's out of committee, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will take the lead in merging it with legislation voted out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee--and at that point, the fate of the public option in the Senate will be largely in his hands. Many observers expect that he'll affix a public option to a trigger, which will be pulled years down the line if insur...

You have got to love the ultimate lobbyist puppet. The proposal is the culmination of more than a year of work by the chairman, Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana. A similar fee was proposed by several liberal Democrats in July. In making it part of his proposal, Mr. Baucus may help cover the costs of the bill but also risks alienating Republicans whom he is trying to win over. Mr. Baucus is struggling to forge a bipartisan consensus among 6 of the 23 senators on his committee before President Obama puts new pressure on lawmakers in an address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday evening. The proposal by Mr. Baucus does not include a public option, or a government-run insurance plan, to compete with private insurers, as many Democrats want. Waldman So what I'm saying here is that it's very disappointing, to put it as mildly as possible, that it took Baucus more than a year to formulate a plan that amounts to capitulating to every Republican demand, and then adding ...

Because Baucus says you won't have no stinking public option . Much more on Baucus, his lobbyists friends, and his Republican colleagues caring about their interests instead of the nation, when we come back. And by the way, we'll give birther idiots a voice, but we'll just lower the talk of the single payer people. From the AM wakeup call, here is the video fitting for this topic. Where Is The Love? - Black Eyed Peas

At first glance, this post from Greg Sargent would make you shake your head at Obama and Emmanuel ( it did mine ) Did Rahm Emanuel privately signal to Democratic Senators that the White House is prepared to drop the public insurance option from health care reform in order to get a bill passed? Two Dem Senators now say Emanuel is signaling exactly that : White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel met last night at the U.S. Capitol with Senate Democrats and told them Obama is “open to alternatives” to a new government insurance program in order to get legislation overhauling the health-care system to his desk, said Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota. And Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana said Emanuel urged the senators to seek Republican support and didn’t discourage them from pursuing the use of non-profit cooperatives, an idea Conrad has proposed. That last line is key: The White House may be signaling that getting a public option is less important than winning bip...