[HCCN] Baucus to hear Single Payer Advocates

[Judy Robbins]



Published on Tuesday, June 2, 2009 by Great Falls Tribune (Montana)
Baucus to Meet with Single-Payer Advocates

by John S. Adams
HELENA - Sen. Max Baucus is set to meet with five single-payer health  
care advocates in Washington, D.C., this week.

Baucus, as chair of the Senate Finance Committee, has made health  
care reform his top priority this session. However, Baucus has  
consistently said single-payer - a system in which the federal  
government acts as the nation's sole health insurance provider - is  
off the table.

"For more than a year, Senator Baucus has met with thousands of  
people, representing hundreds of views on how to reform our health  
care system," Baucus spokesman Ty Matsdorf stated in an e-mail. "This  
meeting is no different. Max hopes to talk, and listen, to these  
folks totry and find the best way to make sure every Montanan has  
access to quality, affordable health care."

Last week, members of Baucus' staff held 20 listening sessions across  
the state on health care reform. At several of those meetings,  
Montanans expressed anger over Baucus' steadfast refusal to consider  
a single-payer option.

Last month Baucus had 13 protesters removed from Senate Finance  
Committee hearings after the protesters demanded that single-payer  
advocates be given a seat at the table during health care reform  
hearings.

According to the Web site SinglePayerAction.org, Baucus will meet  
with Dr. David Himmelstein, associate professor of medicine at  
Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Physicians for a National  
Health Program (PNHP); Dr. Marcia Angell, senior lecturer, Harvard  
Medical School and former editor-in-chief of the New England Journal  
of Medicine; Dr. Oliver Fein, associate dean, Cornell Weill Medical  
School and president of PNHP; Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of  
the California Nurses Association; and Geri Jenkins, president of  
California Nurses Association.

Angell said the group plans to urge Baucus to give serious  
consideration to Congress' two primary single-payer bills, S. 703, by  
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and H.R. 676, by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.

"We will make a case that there should be full hearings on Sanders'  
bill, and we'll make the case that the (Congressional Budget Office)  
should cost-out the Sanders and Conyers bills," Angell said in an  
interview Monday. "We'll make the case that single-payer advocates  
should have a chance to meet with the president. We will argue for  
holding public hearings on health reform that include single payer  
witnesses."

Matsdorf said the June 3 meeting was scheduled prior to last week's  
well-attended health care listening sessions, but Angell said she  
believes the pressure Montanans put on Baucus in recent weeks helped  
open the door for Wednesday's meeting.

"I think Sen. Baucus may be surprised at the amount of push-back he  
has gotten for just ruling (single-payer) off the table," Angell  
said. "It may indicate that he's starting to feel pressure, and  
that's all for the good."


Copyright ©2009 Great Falls Tribune


Article printed from www.CommonDreams.org

URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/06/02-1
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