[FWIW]
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
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
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