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Who is Max Baucus?

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DejaVu
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« on: September 08, 2009, 06:10:26 pm »

Max Baucus is the senior U.S. Senator from Montana and a member of the Democratic Party. He is the current chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Finance and is influential in the debate over health care reform in the United States.


>The 2002 Montana elections got national attention when Baucus's opponent, state senator Mike Taylor, accused Baucus of having implied that Taylor was gay in a campaign ad. However, the ad was paid for by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, not by the Baucus campaign. The ad, which alleged that Taylor had embezzled funds from the cosmetology school he once owned, showed footage from the early 1980s of Taylor massaging another man's face while wearing a tight suit with an open shirt. Taylor dropped out of the race and Baucus won with 63 percent of the vote.

>Baucus raised a record amount of money for his 2008 re-election bid, 91 percent of which has come from individuals living outside of Montana. Similarly, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, Baucus' 2008 campaign raised $11.6 million, only 13% of which came from Montana donors; the rest included millions from health care and other industries overseen by Finance and Baucus' other committees. The overwhelming ratio of special interest and out-of-state dollars to donations from Montana donors have raised questions.

>In December 2005, following the public corruption probe of con man Jack Abramoff, Baucus returned $18,892 in contributions that his office found to be connected to Abramoff. Included in the returned donations was an estimated $1,892 that was never reported for the use of Abramoff's skybox at a professional sports stadium and concert venue in downtown Washington in 2001.

>Baucus is a strong supporter of Israel. He is one of the Senate's largest career recipients of pro-Israel Political Action Committee (PAC) contributions, receiving $319,348 as of 2006.

>Baucus has come under criticism for his ties to the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries while significant numbers of his own constituents lack health insurance and access to health care. The University of Montana Bureau of Business and Economic Research found that Montana has always ranked near the bottom in cross-state and national comparisons of health insurance coverage.

>Despite this backdrop in his home state, Senator Baucus has been one of the biggest Senate beneficiaries of campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical and health insurance industries. From 2003 to 2008, Baucus received $3,973,485 from the health sector, including $852,813 from pharmaceutical companies, $851,141 from health professionals, $784,185 from the insurance industry and $465,750 from HMOs/health services, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

>The only senators who received more campaign contributions from the health sector during the period from 2003 to 2008 than Senator Baucus were three major Presidential contenders, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Baucus tops the list of recipients from business PACs. A 2006 study by Public Citizen found that between 1999 and 2005 Baucus, along with former Senate majority leader Bill Frist, took in the most special-interest money of any senator.




I do not trust this guy.








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« Reply #1 on: September 08, 2009, 06:39:52 pm »

"I do not trust this guy." - DejaVu
Join the club, neither do I.
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« Reply #2 on: September 08, 2009, 07:09:41 pm »

Sounds like he's in the pockets of insurance and pharma.................... Undecided
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« Reply #3 on: September 08, 2009, 07:48:13 pm »

Yes, it certainly looks that way. Kind of feel sorry for the people of Montana.  Embarrassed

Fines proposed for going without health insurance

Snip>The latest proposal: a ten-year, $900-billion bipartisan compromise that Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., a moderate who heads the influential Finance Committee, was trying to broker. It would guarantee coverage for nearly all Americans, regardless of medical problems.

But the Baucus plan also includes the fines that Obama has rejected. In what appeared to be a sign of tension, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs pointedly noted that the administration had not received a copy of the plan before it leaked to lobbyists and news media Tuesday.

The Baucus plan would require insurers to take all applicants, regardless of age or health. But smokers could be charged higher premiums. And 60-year-olds could be charged five times as much for a policy as 20-year-olds.





Just keep in mind who wants these fines....it's not Obama. I can't wait to see how the media spins it...they've been keeping old Max in the clear so far.

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« Reply #4 on: September 08, 2009, 08:36:12 pm »

In other words, old Max is advocating what is good for the insurance companies, not the American people.....way to screw the public Max............. Angry
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« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2009, 11:42:37 pm »

Special interests receive a copy of Baucus plan before the White House does.

Sep 8th, 2009


http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/08/baucus-k-street/#comments

Does anyone really think this POS is working for "the people"?

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« Reply #6 on: September 09, 2009, 12:42:16 am »

The Max Baucus WellPoint/Liz Fowler Plan

[Blogger]
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/08/liz-fowlers-plan/

All this time I've been calling Max Tax health care Max Baucus' health care plan.

But, as William Ockham points out, it's actually Liz Fowler's health care plan (if you open the document and look under document properties, it lists her as author). At one level, it's not surprising that Bad Max's Senior Counsel would have authored the Max Tax plan. Here's how Politico described her role in Bad Max's health care plan earlier this year:

Quote
    If you drew an organizational chart of major players in the Senate health care negotiations, Fowler would be the chief operating officer.

    As a senior aide to Baucus, she directs the Finance Committee health care staff, enforces deadlines on drafting bill language and coordinates with the White House and other lawmakers. She also troubleshoots, identifying policy and political problems before they ripen.

    “My job is to get from point A to point B,” said Fowler, who’s training for four triathlons this summer in between her long days on Capitol Hill.

    Fowler learned as a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania that the United States was the only industrialized country without universal health care, and she decided then to dedicate her professional life to the work.

    She first worked for Baucus from 2001 through 2005, playing a key role in negotiating the Medicare Part D prescription drug program. Feeling burned out, she left for the private sector but rejoined Baucus in 2008, sensing that a Democratic-controlled Congress would make progress on overhauling the health care system.

    Baucus and Fowler spent a year putting the senator in a position to pursue reform, including holding hearings last summer and issuing a white paper in November. They deliberately avoided releasing legislation in order to send a signal of openness and avoid early attacks.

    “People know when Liz is speaking, she is speaking for Baucus,” said Dean Rosen, the health policy adviser to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).

What neither Politico nor Bad Max himself want you to know, though, is that in the two years before she came back to the Senate to help Max craft the Max Tax plan, she worked as VP for Public Policy and External Affairs at WellPoint.

So to the extent that Liz Fowler is the Author of this document, we might as well consider WellPoint its author as well.




Wellpoint is the nation’s second-largest health-insurance company....how freak'n cozy is that!

If the media doesn't report this...then THEY are in on it too.
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« Reply #7 on: September 09, 2009, 02:23:31 am »

The Health Insurance Industry Thanks Max Baucus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpbEDkpEaxU&feature=fvw
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« Reply #8 on: September 09, 2009, 11:22:57 am »

Wow, this guy is just like a Republican................................ Grin
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