The Democrat Who Would Kill Health Care Reform

No, it’s not Tom Carper, although, based on his verified ties to the industry, he likely would if he could, and he’s doing his best as a junior obfuscator. It’s Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, who WILL kill health care reform if enough of his Senate Democratic colleagues (including Tom Carper) allow him to.

A fair and balanced report from NPR (which in itself is a surprise after its emasculation during the Bush Years) raises the all important question as to which constituency Baucus actually serves, and demonstrates why he is the single greatest threat to health care reform, especially the public option.

The REAL smoking guns can be found in this brilliant reporting from Paul Blumenthal of the Sunlight Foundation, which demonstrates Baucus’ (and Carper’s) incredibly close ties to the industry:

Health care reform is a major piece of this year’s legislative program. In total, five committees will have held hearings on the issue and marked up a bill to reform the health care system in the United States. One of those committees stands out as the key arbiter on the many sticking points of the proposed legislation, the Senate Finance Committee.

The Finance Committee contains a high volume of lawmakers with close ties to the health and insurance industries through both campaign contributions and personal relationships. The visualizations below highlight these influences by mapping former staffers of Finance Committee members who have since become lobbyists for health and insurance interests and showing the number of contributions given to the committee members from these industries.

Lobbying disclosure filings for the first quarter of 2009 reveal that five of Baucus’ former staffers currently work for a total of twenty-seven different organizations that are either in the health care or insurance sector or have a noted interest in the outcome. The organizations represented include some of the top lobbying organizations in the health sector: Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Researchers of America (PhRMA), America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), Amgen, and GE Health Care.

The overall health and insurance sectors haven’t just been kind to Baucus’ staffers, but they’ve also aided his campaigns handsomely over the years, especially in his barely contested 2008 reelection campaign. In 2008, Baucus received $1,148,775 from the health sector and $285,850 from the insurance sector. For his career he has received $2,797,381 from the health sector and $1,170,313 from the insurance sector.The former staffers turned lobbyists include two former chiefs of staff, David Castagnetti and Jeff Forbes, and one former legislative assistant, Scott Olsen. Other former staffers working with health care portfolios include Angela Hoffman and Roger Blauwet.

Blumenthal provides flow charts to demonstrate the ties between senators, former staff, lobbyists and campaign contributions. Delaware’s own Tom Carper, who also sits on the Finance Committee, has three former staffers lobbying on behalf of the healthcare and insurance industries, tied for second-most (with Chuck Schumer) among the committee D’s, behind only Baucus’ five.

The organizations represented by these 20 health care lobbyists include some of the biggest opponents to center piece of President Obama’s health care plan: the public option. These include the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, PhRMA, and various pharmaceutical, medical device and insurance companies. The Senate Finance Committee is seen as the biggest obstacle to the public option.

Baucus and Carper are among those trying to kill the public option. Fortunately, other Democratic senators are reportedly tired of Baucus’ act. From Roll Call:

However, the level of consultation with Democrats stands in contrast with how Republican negotiators are briefing their Members. Senators said Enzi, who is the ranking member on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, briefs leaders every day on the talks. And all three of the GOP negotiators have agreed to brief the entire GOP Conference before they sign on to any deal with Baucus.

But Democrats said Baucus is unlikely to run any deal by his caucus before he shakes hands on an agreement with Republicans.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) warned Baucus two weeks ago that he risked alienating Democrats with his approach to the bill. In that meeting, Reid told Baucus to expand his focus to include more Democrats. He also told Baucus to stop entertaining policy solutions — such as taxing health insurance benefits — that were opposed by a majority of the Democratic caucus. Reid also strongly urged Baucus to focus on creating a government-run, public health insurance plan, rather than the nonprofit health insurance cooperative on which the negotiators remain fixated.

While Montanans have to deal with Baucus, Delawareans can and must insist that Delaware’s senators, especially the industry-friendly Carper, support the public option, and that they lobby Baucus, et al, to insist on it. And let them know that you know that catchphrases like ‘bipartisan solution’ are synonyms and euphemisms for “Bleep You”.

Genuine health care reform will likely be killed for at least a decade if everyone who supports it fails to act at this historic moment. It CAN succeed, but only if the grassroots is engaged.

El Somnambulo will call both Carper’s and Kaufman’s offices today. What will YOU do?