Baucus bill may yet hit the spot

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has labored month after month to keep Republicans at the negotiating table on healthcare — only to produce a bill without any GOP support. Any ... not even Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).

People keep asking why Baucus would have hung in this long unless he wanted a bill Republicans could vote for. Baucus said he is hopeful the Republicans will keep talking to Democrats and come on board after the Senate Finance Committee produces a marked-up and undoubtedly different bill, and while it's possible, it certainly isn't likely.

While liberals blasted the Baucus bill and Republicans roundly rejected it, The Washington Post points out that the industry coalition President Barack Obama has worked so hard to preserve "remains intact." The very interests that loathe the House bills containing a public option are still at the proverbial table, and the criticism from both sides may be — according to the Post — "the best news President Obama has had in months."

So though there is much whining from right and left about the Baucus plan, it is quite possibly the sweet spot from which the Obama administration hopes to begin the process of finding consensus. It is scored at less than $800 billion by the Congressional Budget Office, is budget-neutral, contains generous subsidies for coverage and reforms the system without a government plan.

Baucus seemed a lonely figure on Wednesday, without the support of any other Gang of Six member behind him as he introduced his plan. But he said it can pass the Senate. And one thing is for sure, anything that can pass the Senate will have earned the scorn of right and left, just like the Baucus bill.


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