A Swing and A Miss: Max Baucus and the Bipartisan Six

Okay, so here’s the thing. It really wasn’t a bipartisan six because no matter how many times the three Democratic members on this Senate committee caved to the demands of the three GOP members during negotiations…and as their final submission to the full Senate graphically illustrates, they obviously caved early and often…none of the three Republicans ended up approving the proposal anyway. That means none of them will vote for it, if it ever comes to a full Senate vote, and none of the other Republicans in the Senate will vote for it either.

For that, ironically, we as Democrats…or Progressives…or Independents…or Americans of any political stripe who want meaningful Health Care Reform…should be grateful, because the Baucus Bill is a pathetic piece of nothing. Speaking to the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee yesterday, Cigna whistleblower Wendell Potter called it “an absolute gift to the insurance industry”. And this guy knows whereof he speaks because before he found his conscience, he was a long-time executive in that very industry.

Potter went on to say that “if congress fails to create a public insurance option to compete with private insurers, the bill it sends to the president might as well be called the Insurance Industry Profit Protection and Enhancement Act…and contrary to the misinformation being disseminated by the Health Insurance Industry and its allies, the public insurance option WOULD NOT have a competitive advantage over private plans. It would have to meet the same benefit requirements and comply with the same insurance market reforms as private plans”.

Let’s put this in easy to understand terms. The Baucus Bill would provide absolutely no meaningful help or relief in the following scenario which, by the by, happens to be a real family’s real story.

Mom and Dad and their two youngest kids had been paying a healthy premium for family plan coverage for about 15 years. Even with no major claims the premiums and deductibles climbed inexorably higher while the coverage parameters got more restrictive and lower with each passing year. Then, Dad is diagnosed with colon cancer…but fortunately the surgery and subsequent chemo therapy regimen work and ten years later he’s still around. Medically they consider you cancer free and cured after five years, but the insurance industry continues to rate him so their premiums keep going ever upward.

Then, ten years after Dad’s big event, Mom ends up with a dissected aorta. After defying the odds and pulling through a high-risk, low-percentage initial surgery that necessitated a new aorta and 14 other prosthetic repairs, as well as a second surgery, she began living life as someone who will be medical care and medication dependent until the day she dies. And boy how the insurance companies love to hear that prognosis.

Now, two years later, 12 years out from his colon cancer Dad is fine, and Mom is back to normal except for the doctor monitoring and medication she’ll always need. Meanwhile, the insurance company abacus is running out of whatever it is that an abacus runs out of. Even with the kids grown and gone, the premiums have gotten so high that they no longer feel they can afford to pay them. So two people who have always been well-employed, albeit self-employed, and who paid ever-escalating premiums to their insurance carriers for over 20 years, are now being forced to play Health Roulette until they qualify for Medicare.

And because we know you’ll ask, we’re going to tell you. Premium estimates for covering the two of them, depending upon deductibles and coverages and exclusion of pre-existing conditions, ranged from $1,700 to $2,100 per month in round numbers when they finally came to the realization that they had hit the financial wall. For those of you without an abacus handy, that’s between $20,400 and $25,200 after-tax dollars per year…and that’s ridiculous!

They could do it, but they won’t do it. They would have to sell their house, rent a small apartment in a low-rent district, possibly sell their car, and never leave home, to be able to afford health insurance coverage at these rates. They don’t want to do that because they’ve spent most of their lives working hard so that they’d be able to pay for the house that they could retire in. It’s the American dream…the kids are educated and out on their own, and now it’s time to reap the benefits of all those years of hard work.

Except for them, it’s the American nightmare. They had the misfortune to be stricken with major health issues, and under the current system in this country that means they’re shit out of luck. Now they’re left to hope that their luck will change…at least until they both qualify for Medicare. If not, well, then their story could really get scary.

Think it couldn’t happen to you…either because you’re too young to get sick or because you've always been healthy? Well, so were they until...so you’d better think again! Under the prevailing system, everyone in this country who’s responsible for their own health insurance faces a similar scenario if they’re ever confronted with any serious medical issues… EVER.

And those of you fortunate enough to have your health insurance locked in for life because someone else is paying for it…like we the taxpayers or that big company you worked for…take a long, hard look in the mirror before you turn your back on the rest of us. Because some day, someone else in your family, or someone you care about, will be out on their own, and under this system, if they get sick or badly injured, God help them!

SC