Exclusive: Max Baucus’s Health Care Team

by Ezra Klein
The American Prospect Blog
May 6, 2009

I mentioned yesterday that Chuck Schumer’s public plan compromise wasn’t a freelance effort: Max Baucus had deputized him to work through the options on the public plan. But he’s not the only Finance Committee member that received some homework from Baucus. In fact, Baucus has given every Democrat on the committee a different piece of health reform to focus in on.

This is the list:

Jay Rockefeller: Medicaid Expansion, Premium Subsidies, Quality Improvements

Kent Conrad: Comparative Effectiveness, Chronic Care Management

Jeff Bingaman: Pay-for-Performance, Bundled Payments, IHS

John Kerry: Health Information Technology, Exchange, Small Business Tax Credit

Blanche Lincoln: Small-Group Rating Reforms, Small Business Tax Credit

Ron Wyden: Tax Exclusion, Non-Group Rating Reform

Chuck Schumer: Public Plan

Debbie Stabenow: Employer Pay-or-Play, Medicare Buy-in, HIT

Maria Cantwell: Long-Term Care Reform, Workforce Issues

Bill Nelson: Graduate Medical Education, Medicare Part D

Bob Menendez: Disparities, Individual Requirement

Tom Carper: Fraud and Abuse, Prevention and Wellness, Transparency

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=05&year=2009&base_name=exclusive_max_baucuss_health_c

Sen. Max Baucus has set an agenda to send a comprehensive health care reform bill to President Obama within the next few months. The significance of the assignments given to each of the Democratic members of the Senate Finance Committee is that they provide considerable insight as to the policies that are likely to be included in the legislative package.

Many of these categories involve significant increases in costs, especially through additional and more complex administrative functions. Potential cost savings here are merely wishes not supported by any solid policy studies. The quest to slow the rate of health care cost increases has been one of the most important driving forces for reform, yet these measures will only add more to the cost burden.

Providing health care for everyone seems to be elusive, and these measures would hardly budge the numbers. Perhaps that is why they changed the goal of universal coverage to a goal of “aim for” universal coverage.

Much of the demand for reform stems from public dissatisfaction with the waste and abuses of the private insurance industry. In response, we were promised much greater regulatory oversight of the private insurers. But where is it? Is that what the “Exchange” is? If so, can you imagine John Kerry crafting legislation that would convert our private insurers into a system of social insurance? Do you think that his conservative approach based on a foundation of sloth might be the reason that he received this important assignment?

The senators have some busy work to do. It’s too bad that it’s not on health care reform.