Baucus's plan: A "real hit on middle-class families"

Sen. Max Baucus's healthcare reform plan would deliver a significant blow to the budgets of middle-class families. This is according to a Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee:

Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) complained the legislation would ask working Americans to commit as much as 13% of their income to buy basic insurance. "Additional steps are going to have to be taken to make coverage more affordable," he said. "That's a real hit on middle-class families."

Exactly whose interests Baucus has in mind have been the subject of scrutiny:

As liberal protesters marched outside, Sen. Max Baucus sat down inside a San Francisco mansion for a dinner of chicken cordon bleu and a discussion of landmark health-care legislation under consideration by his Senate Finance Committee.

At the table on May 26 were about 20 donors willing to fork over $10,000 or more to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, including executives of major insurance companies, hospitals and other health-care firms.

"Most people there had an agenda; they wanted the ear of a senator, and they got it," said Aaron Roland, a San Francisco health-care activist who paid half price to attend the gathering. "Money gets you in the door. The only thing the other side can do is march around and protest outside." [Washington Post, July 21, 2009]

The Dem's love to make political capital by demonizing the insurance industry but have no compunctions when it comes to taking their money. And no, of course this doesn't influence lawmakers.

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