How Max Baucus got single payer health care for the people of Libby, Montana

[eridani]

http://my.firedoglake.com/kaytillow/2011/06/15/how-libby-montana-got-medicare-for-all/

The single payer plan that Baucus kept off the table is now very much on the table in Libby. Unknown to most of the public, Baucus inserted a section into the health reform bill that covers the suffering people of Libby, Montana, not just the former miners but the whole community—all covered by Medicare.

They don’t have to be 65 years old or more.
They don’t have to wait until 2014 for the state exchanges.
No ten year roll out—it’s immediate.
They don’t have to purchase a plan—this is not a buy-in to Medicare—it’s free.
They don’t have to be disabled for two years before they apply.
They don’t have to go without care for three years until Medicaid expands.
They don’t have to meet income tests.
They don’t have to apply for a subsidy.
They don’t have to pay a fine for failure to buy insurance.
They don’t have to hope that the market will make a plan affordable.
They don’t have to hide their pre-existing conditions.
They don’t have to find a job that provides coverage.
Baucus inserted a clause in the Affordable Care Act to make special arrangements for them in Medicare, and he didn’t wait for any Congressional Budget Office scoring to do it.

Less than two months after the passage of the health reform bill on March 23, 2010, Nancy Berryhill of the Social Security Administration in Denver joined personally in setting up an office in Libby to sign up these newly eligible people. “This is a new thing,” Berryhill told the Missoulian. “No other group like this has ever been selected to receive Medicare.” Berryhill issued a nationwide alert to inform anyone who had lived or stayed in Lincoln County of their eligibility. She opened a storefront in Libby at the old downtown city hall where she signed up 60 people on the first day. She plastered the towns of Whitefish and Eureka with pamphlets explaining the program and added three new staffers to the office in Kalispell.

[Cleita]

1. Well thank God he did that at least.

Libby is a beautiful place that was turned into a toxic dump for mining interests and that is killing its residents. Too bad he's not interested in the rest of Montana or America.

[onethatcares]

2. and New Hampshire has done about the same.

not to leave out romneycare either.

[xphile]

3. Oh so it's good enough for them but not the rest of us? Fuck Max Baucus! n/t

[LiberalLoner]

4. I'm from Montana. I can tell you, our Max wanted single payer for everyone. He

didn't have the goddamn votes. He cares very much for our state and our nation. I'm sorry for getting a little defensive here, but I think the world of Senator Baucus.

He got single payer for Libby Montana because the votes were there for it.

And that's all I'm going to say about this.

[eridani]

5. If he did, why did he have doctors advocating single payer arrested?

And why did he ask an insurance lobbyist to write his bill? If he wanted single payer fore everyone, show me the URL.

[Canuckistanian]

6. Yes, why did he have those single-payer advocate doctors thown out?

And why were ZERO single-payer advocates chosen to testify? I followed those hearings along with many MILLIONS of other progressives.

Baucus sold out. It's not surprising. He's a Blue Dog, a charter member.

[Ramulux]

9. Thats just not true

Max Baucus made it clear he was against the public option and any attempt to make the health care bill more progressive, in numerous public statements, that was never a secret.

This had nothing to do with votes. Over 50 democratic senators publicly voiced support for the public option and Max Baucus was one of the handful who was against it. He used his position as a member of the gang of 6 to weaken the health care bill, he has admitted as much.

Beyond being a tool of corporate America and a conservative, hes also a pretty disgusting human being who used the fact that his republican opponent in 2002 was rumored to be gay against him. He used one of the most blatantly anti-gay political ads in modern political history. He voted for the Bush tax cuts, the war in Iraq and pretty much every terrible piece of legislation that has gone through congress over the past 10 years.

[greendog]

7. I wonder what the definition of "lived or stayed in Libby, MT" is?

For the past 6 years I've worked one day of every week in Libby and Troy. Maybe I qualify. :think:

on edit: after a bit of research it appears that you have to have spent a total of six months over the last 10 years AND have been diagnosed with asbestos related illness.

[eridani]

8. Too bad. People who were fucked over by the mine company--

--certainly deserve redress. Too bad the same reasoning doesn't apply to people fucked over by insurance companies.