Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) is Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. The committee has 23 members.
Senator Max, as the boss man, has a very high price tag. He has received more money from the healthcare industry than any other Democrat. You don’t want to know how much the entire committee raked in. After all, it includes people like Orrin Hatch, John Cornyn, Jon Kyl, Pat Roberts and Chuck Schumer.
How do they love him? Let us count the ways.
[The figures are for 2003 through 2008.]
Insurance Corporations $ 592,185
Healthcare Professionals $ 537,141
Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Products $ 524,813
Healthcare Services & HMOs $ 364,500
Hospitals & Nursing Homes $ 332,826
I was going to add all of that up but I had a problem, even after taking off my shoes. If my calculator is right, he took in a grand total of $ 2,351,465 from those civic-minded people.
You too can own a Senator but, as you can see, the price is very steep.
If someone charges that much, he must really have to go a bit out of his way to give his owners their money’s worth. Well, old Max is a standup kinda guy. He wouldn’t cheat anyone who has that kind of swag. They can always count on him – as soon as he finishes counting.
So, how is Max earning his keep? As Chair of the Committee, he scheduled 15 witnesses to testify on healthcare reform. Not a single one was an advocate for a single-payer system. The for profit leeches were all accounted for. Those wanting to provide healthcare were not.
The advocates for single-payer had asked repeatedly for one person to be included. That one person is Marcia Angel, MD, first female Editor-in-Chief of the New England Journal of Medicine. They were ignored.
When the hearing began, several people asked in public, with cameras rolling, that a single-payer advocate be included. The Senator representing America’s Health Insurance Plans (successor to the lobbying group that spawned the Harry and Louise campaign), Max Baucus had them arrested. Those arrested were from that dangerous cult of zealots known as physicians. While the “protesters” were being arrested, Senator Max laughingly commented, “We need more police.”
Now why would they be excluded? As I mentioned in my last post, a proposal from them would elicit numbers from the Congressional Budget Office. The numbers favor a single-payer system so obviously a 2nd-grade dropout would not be challenged to select the better option.
There is only one salient question you need to ask:
Is the reason for a healthcare system to address the health needs of the citizenry of our country or is it merely one more vehicle for corporate vultures to make enough money to put King Midas to shame?
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