DeMint body slams Baucus HC plan

This plan is in serious trouble after just one day.

DeMint Slams Baucus Plan
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 10:13 PM

Senator Jim DeMint, R-SC, released a scathing critique Wednesday night of the healthcare plan released by Sen. Max Baucus, calling it a rehash that does nothing to "increase Americans' access to affordable healthcare coverage.

What follows is DeMint's point-by-point critique:

The chairman’s health care proposal (known as the "chairman's mark") that was released by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., in advance of next week’s Finance Committee Markup is just more of the same big government policies that have been proposed by this Congress and this administration for months. The chairman’s rehashed proposal does nothing to increase Americans’ access to affordable health care coverage. In fact, the Baucus plan includes several devastating provisions that hurt the ability of millions of Americans to keep the coverage they currently have (and like).

Moreover, the combination of tax increases, penalties, new government health care programs, increased fees on private health care entities, and destruction of current health care coverage products will force this nation into the grip of a government-run health care system.

Chairman Baucus’ proposal:

1. Creates FANNIE MED Health Insurance Entities That Will Lead to Government Takeover: This bill uses taxpayer dollars to subsidize cooperative health insurance agreements that will be overseen and regulated by federal bureaucrats and, overtime, could be bailed out by taxpayers. As Majority Leader Reid has said himself, this is simply the “public option” by another name, and is nothing more than a new path to a government takeover of health care. Like the public option, taxpayer-subsidized co-ops will force millions of Americans out of their current plans and into government-regulated care. This nation has seen a similar model in our government-run mortgage market and America has spoken out on this issue: no Fannie Med.

2. Could DOUBLE Health Insurance Premiums for Millions of Americans: The chairman’s mark will effectively raise premiums for millions of Americans who purchase health insurance in the individual health marketplace. In fact, the Council for Affordable Health Insurance has indicated that the proposed combination of risk adjusted premiums, individual mandates, and guaranteed issue coverage could raise premiums as much as 95 percent in the individual market, impacting millions of Americans who purchase health insurance outside of their employer or as small business owners. This proposal not only destroys the ability of Americans to purchase health insurance they can afford, own and keep, but also violates the President’s campaign promise that every American would be able to “keep their health plan.”

3. Regulates EVERY Americans’ Health Coverage, by PENALIZING Anyone Without a Government Approved Plan: The chairman’s mark will mandate that every American get health care coverage and, moreover, will define what benefits individuals must get to avoid government penalties on their income (as high as $3,800 per family) -- again, violating the president’s commitment to the American people to not raise taxes on Americans making below $250,000 per year.

4. Does Little to Improve Competition Across State Lines: This bill does nothing to create a competitive national market in which uninsured Americans can choose from hundreds of health insurance plans in any state in the nation. Rather, the chairman’s mark allows states to build compacts for interstate purchasing -- an idea that does little to eliminate the big insurance industry’s hold on insurance commissioners who for years have blocked consumer-friendly, interstate competition.

Continued:

http://www.newsmax.com//insidecover/demint_baucus_plan/2009/...