Health Care Reform and Baucus in Montana

As the health care debate rages on you may have noticed this article from the Missoulian about the Montana Health Insurance senator:

By MIKE DENNISON Missoulian State Bureau

HELENA – As health care reform heats up politically in Washington, D.C., the temperature is being turned up in Montana as well, with TV ads and rallies targeting Sen. Max Baucus, who’s helping craft key health legislation.

Two liberal groups are sponsoring an ad urging Baucus to support a government health insurance plan as part of reforms – a proposal bitterly opposed by industry.

Meanwhile, advocates for national, taxpayer-supported health insurance for all are planning rallies Friday outside the Montana offices of Baucus and health insurer Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Montana.

And from the other end of the political spectrum, a Kalispell physician is in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to take part in a news conference by a group opposing current reforms as “government-controlled health care.”

Anne Bucacek plans to join members of the Coalition to Protect Patients’ Rights for a conference at the National Press Club.

Baucus, D-Mont., chairs the Senate Finance Committee, which is working on one of three major health reform bills before Congress. The committee’s bill, yet to be released, is thought to be a bellwether of what could pass the full Senate, which is a key bottleneck in the legislative process.

On Tuesday, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America began running a TV ad in Montana, urging Baucus to include the government health insurance plan in the bill.

The plan, also known as the “public option,” would be a government-sponsored insurance plan that competes with private health insurance.

The ad notes that Baucus has received nearly $4 million in campaign funds from health and insurance industry interests in the past six years, and that a recent poll showed that 76 percent of Americans support having the public option.

It shows two doors, one “for” and one “against” a public option and asks Baucus which one he’ll choose.

The ad began running Tuesday in Billings, Helena and Butte TV markets, and Progressive Change Campaign Committee is asking members to contribute money to keep it running for another week, said co-founder Adam Green in New York.

Baucus, through a spokesman, declined Tuesday to say whether he supports having the public option in the bill coming out of the Finance Committee.

“Max is committed to crafting a health care bill that will lower costs, improve quality and can pass the U.S. Senate,” said Ty Matsdorf. “At this point, he is looking at a variety of options to accomplish these goals.”

Green said his group’s members voted on which senator to target on the public-option issue, and that Baucus was the top target.

The group, founded earlier this year, works to elect more “progressives” to Congress and to push Democrats to act more boldly on progressive issues, Green said. Its partner on the ad, Democracy for America, is the group founded by former Vermont Gov. and ex-Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.

This Friday, Montanans for Single-Payer, which supports national, public health insurance for all citizens, has scheduled rallies in Helena, Bozeman, Missoula, Billings and other cities.

Organizers say they’ll be rallying in support of a House bill provision that would allow states to set up their own single-payer health systems. The rallies are targeting Baucus, who has said single-payer won’t be considered as a reform option, and Blue Cross, the state’s largest private health insurer.

“If we can keep this amendment alive through the process (a big challenge), Montana could set up its own single-payer system,” the group said this week.

Bucacek, the

Kalispell physician, will be joining members of the Coalition to Protect Patients’ Rights to discuss how proposed reforms will “lead to long waiting lines, substandard care, and to the slowing of medical discovery.”

So where are you at in this big health insurance debate? It could be that some time in the near future that Montana Health Insurance Quotes could change!

My personal opinion is that change does need to happen but not in the form of single payer but rather in the form of controlling outragous health insurance premiums.