Snowe: Baucus Bill is 'solid starting point' but process should slow down

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Sep 23 2009

Sen. Snowe: Baucus Bill Is 'Solid Starting Point' But Should Slow Down

"Republican Senator Olympia Snowe says the Finance Committee's health care bill is a 'solid starting point' but needs to be improved," The Associated Press reports. "The Maine senator is seen as the only Republican on the panel who could end up voting for the bill, so her comments are closely watched." In her opening statement at the Finance Committee mark-up today, "Snowe praised the bill for holding down costs and taking a stab at medical malpractice reform. She said work was still needed to make sure the required insurance is affordable for people. To accommodate such concerns Chairman Max Baucus has announced he's making changes including lowering a penalty on people who don't comply with a requirement to buy insurance" (Werner and Alonso-Zaldivar, 9/22).

CQ Politics: "Snowe, who is likely to be the only Republican to vote for the bill, at least in committee, said she would like to be able to review the final, amended legislation — together with an updated cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office — before voting to approve it. That could delay a committee vote until next week, but Baucus seemed unconcerned. He said Snowe made a 'good point' that the committee should 'make sure the numbers add up, know what the numbers are'" (9/22).

USA Today: "Snowe said it was critical to find a solution to health care issues, but called for putting 'thoughtful deliberation ahead of an arbitrary deadline.' 'We simply cannot address one-sixth of our economy on matters of such personal and financial significance to every American on a legislative fast-track,'" she said (Stanglin, 9/22).

This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

Posted in: Healthcare News

Tags: Health Care, Medical Malpractice

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Affordability!

Joe & Christine Savard says:

September 23, 2009 at 1:51 PM

PLEASE DO NOT CAVE IN ON THIS HEALTH CARE BILL.. People should not be fined for not having it. If they cannot afford the insurance how can they afford this fine? It is a stupid thought.

Please do not disappoint the Republican Party again as you have done in the past. We used to live in Maine but have moved because of our jobs. We still have lots of family in Maine and are concerned about you not voting Republican on lots of issues. You may not get voted in next time if you keep voting for things we don't believe are good for us.

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Autonomous Care

Robert Su, M.D. says:

September 23, 2009 at 10:22 PM

I am a physician who is in semiretirement and has advocated returning health care to the simple service transaction between only the patient and the physician. I firmly believe adding third-party into the simple relationship is bureaucratic, intrusive, profit-raking, problematic, and degrading the care at higher cost at the same time.

Non-profit regional self-insurance pools (or cooperatives) to provide catastrophic insurance coverage are the way for lowering the insurance premiums. The pools can provide the plans itself and/or enlist the insurance companies who want to offer plans at reasonable premiums. Because the individual members and businesses control the pools, the pools are self-sufficient and keep the government out.

In pairing with the catastrophic coverage, use Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) for individuals and families to save up money with either tax credits or tax deduction to pay for the first-dollar expense up to the limit of deductible when the catastrophic coverage kicks in. Paying for services with the individual's HSA preserves his decision-making power and motivate his consciousness about both the cost and quality of care. There are designs for establishing HSAs for both Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, which will save money for the programs without dictatorial reduction of services Medicare and Medicaid HSAs will save the government from filing bankruptcy..

For my personal story, please visit Autonomous Care at http://autonomouscare.blogspot.com. For the detail of Autonomous Care please visit www.autonomouscare.info.

Robert Su, M.D.

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