Obamacare by Any Other Name

The core of Obamacare is embodied in the Baucus bill. He would have a government committee decide on what’s an appropriate health plan for you and your family. There would be mandates and regulations and subsidies – and, yes, much spending.

After months of negotiations, Senator Max Baucus has done the impossible: he has gotten Republicans and Democrats, fiscal hawks and liberals united in common cause.

The problem for the Chairman of the Senate’s Finance Committee is that, after 9 months of negotiations, the unity is in opposing his compromise bill.

Yesterday, Senator Baucus presented his bipartisan bill – sans the bipartisan support.

Actually, his problems are more profound.  The Gang of Six seems to be down to a Gang of One.  If Republicans, even moderate Republicans, are cool to his draft legislation, some Democrats are outwardly critical.  Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) have already publicly criticized it.  Slate’s Timothy Noah asks: “if a finance committee chair introduces a bill and no one votes for it, does it exist?”

For months, Senator Baucus and President Obama have worked closely together.  Indeed, they seem to have been engaged in a good-cop-bad-cop routine.

President Obama declares in August that he is abandoning efforts to achieve Republican support; Senator Baucus emphasizes throughout the summer the need for GOP votes on the final bill.  President Obama favors a Medicare-style public option despite fierce opposition; Senator Baucus, winning praise from some GOP senators, likes the concept of a co-op.  President Obama speaks of the moral imperative to pass health reform and discusses the experiences of his dying mother; Senator Baucus understands the importance of health reform but frets about the deficit.

That said, the White House and the Finance Committee have been in synch.  OMB Director Peter Orszag, it’s been reported, has spent so much time in the Chairman’s office that he helps himself to the Coke Zeros in the Senator’s private fridge.

And they haven’t just been on the same page in terms of tactics.  The core of Obamacare is embodied in the Baucus bill.

He would have a government committee decide on what’s an appropriate health plan for you and your family.  There would be mandates and regulations and subsidies – and, yes, much spending.

Many senators see themselves as future presidents.  Senator Baucus seems to think he’s the future health-insurance czar of America.  As The Wall Street Journal editorializes:

The plan essentially rewrites all insurance contracts, including those offered by businesses to their workers. Benefits and premiums must be tailored to federal specifications. First-dollar coverage would be mandated for many services, and cost-sharing between businesses and employees would be sharply reduced... Nor would insurance be allowed to bear any relation to risk. Inevitably, costs would continue to climb.

Senator Baucus has fashioned a bill that sees Washington as the answer to a problem partly created and certainly worsened by Washington.

Some of the worst aspects of Obamacare have been watered down.  The public plan has been dropped; the co-op, however, may simply be a stepping-stone.  The bill scores at a fraction of the House draft legislation; it still comes in at $856 billion over ten years (and is only implemented for 6 of those years).  President Obama has abandoned all efforts at tort reform; Senator Baucus’ bill expresses support for the concept.

It’s possible that, just a few months ago, the draft legislation released on Wednesday would have been the start of a great compromise.

It’s too late for that.

Thank goodness.