CNN

The Democrats in congress have a completely wrong approach to healthcare...we need solutions that:

1. Incorporate malpractice reform.
2. Do not involve tax increases on anyone.
3. Encourages employers to provide insurance rather than punishes them for not providing coverage.
4. Covers catastrophic medical costs but leaves the most basic care to the patients so that they feel the cost and therefore make more rational choices about their own cost/benefit trade offs.
5. Brings more Doctors (immigration or training) – - this reduces wait times and lowers provider pay via market forces
6. Requires working as a precondition to any participation in government subsidized programs – - we can not continue to had benefits to lazy people who won't work.
7. An emphasis on preventative health and lifestyle issues to prevent or delay expensive diseases.
8. No government run insurance – - private organizations alway are more efficient than government and they keep the politic out of our healthcare decision.

THE best health care system in the.. world...You including all the 50 million wihtout health care coverage..you creep?

Yeah, Senator Baucus. Think how much more money we could spend on Health Care For Everyone(!) if we could just tax tax tax tax tax some more!

Its a loser deal but what do you expect from the Obama secular welfare state. Spread the wealth and carry the lazy.

Big John Boehner:

"I don't see any Republicans that have any interest in voting to ration care for their constituents, raise costs to their constituents, and put the federal government in charge of the best health care system in the world," said House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio.

- Care is rationed TODAY... bu the insurance companies... if you're coverage gets dropped, or you change jobs, or you get sick, and then need to change plans... you CAN'T DO THAT
- Insurance companies tell you what you can and can't get covered for TODAY.
- Insurance companies have raised rates 3x in the last 10 years.
- The Feds will NOT be in charge... there will only be a PUBLIC OPTION to compete alongside the private plans.
- "Best Health Care System in World"? Please. We rank 36th in the world or lower in almost all studies based on quality of care, cost of care, and number of people covered.

Alright, I give, the sky is green, and down is up, just because Boehner and Rush and Hannity tell me so, every day, all day.

nonsense...Max is just so wrong on this. taxing benefits is not the solution. raise taxes on soda pop, cut spending in other areas, continue negotiating with hospitals, are among other possibilities. Max wants to do what John McCain suggested...DO NOT tax middle class Americans!

Baucus's political career will go down in flames along with the other liberal beaurocrats hell bent to laden the American taxpayers with higher payments. Wait and see the Congressional seats the Democrats lose in 2010. The leadership is causing a true implosion!

lolol....man, what a bunch of clowns these democrats are. But, either way, the only thing they are disagreeing on is exactly which method to use to separate us from our money.

Wake up democrats, you are being taken for fools again by your leaders.

What about taxing soda, artifical fruit juices and things of that nature? Wouldn't that also possibly help in preventative measures towards good health?

I do believe the US is just about one of the only major countries in the world that don't tax such items. Gee in Ontario Canada the sales tax on just about everything is 13 or 14%

Note to Reid: Elemendorf is head of the NON-PARTISAN Congressional Budget Office. You would love nothing more if he were a partisan hack. Too bad, people like you place party over important issues facing our nation.

I really and truly wish the republicans would stop claiming we have "the best healthcare system in the world". We do not anymore. And if they would just stop posturing and acctually look intop it they would see it for what it is. A system that is quickly falling behind the rest of the world.

I appreciate Obama opposing taxing my health insurance that I pay for through my employer. I work hard to pay for it, and taxing it would add insult to injury. Find another alternative, Sen Baucus!

This president has rushed us to an elective war on prosperity with no exit strategy.

Where's the "exit strategy" regarding belligerant out-of-control government takeovers of nearly every industry?

This economic collapse and subsequent socialism is Obama's Vietnam.

as an individual who makes substantially less than the $250,000 cutoff line of wealth in the US, the dems will be playing with fire should they choose to tax my health benefits.. obama ran on a platform of NOT raising our taxes.. there's plenty of money in the US, and most of it rests in the hands of the absolute wealthiest.. democratic control of the house, senate and presidency, is NOT a lifetime appointment.. watch how quickly you're back in the minority in each house, and OUT of the white house, should you decide to tax those of us significantly DOWN the wealth ladder in the US...

Go get em Blue dogs, you are theonly dems with any sense. I don't want my healthcare (which I pay for) taxed to provide care for some person who sits back and expects a government check every month to buy crack with.

I hope that before anything more moves forward with respect to healthcare reform that the key political players, including President Barack Obama carfeully chooses to use the phrase "Universal HealthCare Coverage" versus "Socialized Medicine;" the two terms mean different things, but to many are the same and therefore may divide our country even more on this issue, which we can not afford to happen. Please help the public to be better educated on this issue as it is not an easy solution. My comments are driven by the fact that whomever wrote this article should have have been more clear in writing the following statement, particularly for an audience that is not well versed in the demand for LTC and what drives the demand for it.

"Baucus' criticism came on the same day the head of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said the health reform bills moving through Congress won't reduce long-term health care costs — in part because the bills don't include taxes on health benefits."

Cl

You dumb democrats will lose because of Obummer. I can't wait.

so a NON-PARTISAN CBO says the dems plan won't reduce long term costs?

How will the dems and moveon spin this one? Accuse the CBO of being the "office of 'no!'"?

I don't remember the Max Baucus for President campaign last year. I do remember the Obama and Clinton campaigns, which had similar health care plans, including a publicly-financed option, and not including taxes on heath benefits.

As I recall, that is the position that won the primaries and won the election, by a handy margin.

I'd like to see President Obama and his Democratic congress deliver on those campaign promises.

I'd like to see Senator Baucus recognize that no one outside of his sparsely populated state voted for his vision of health care reform, and I'd like to see him support the leaders that we did vote for.

Pres Obama's position on this issue is one of the few things he has gotten right so far. Taxing employer-provided health care will achieve the opposite of what Sen Baccus wants. Instead of raising revenues to pay for government-subsidized healthcare, it will actually reduce revenues and increases costs of the plan. Businesses will eliminate group health insurance plans, which in turn will leave more people without health insurance–just the opposite of what Obama wants.

I have no idea what the minority leader is talking about. We clearly do not have the best health care system in the world...far from it.

I don't need or want, YOUR healthcare.

I don't need or want, YOUR self serving taxes. I plea the Fourth.

I don't need or want, YOUR social programs.

I need and want, you to do YOUR job, protect us from our enemies.

I need and want, a simple tax code. (nothing like a legal document that is larger than the bible)

I need and want, justice on Wall St. Enforce the laws we currently have. Issue some actual penalties to those who do wrong. (anyone go to jail for the financial meltdown... no.. record bonuses paid governemnt money handed to private corporations)

"I will not raise your taxes.., not one penny" -Obama 2008 campaign promise.

Let's try out this government rationed (no) health care on the members of congress and obama and his family for about 3 to 4 years and then if it works, we can all go for it.

So now we cant speak the truth on CNN, big surprise.

I think it's time we figure out a way to remove health care benefits for our representatives, as well as cut their salaries in half, since they only work about half the year, and remove pension funds. They should be treated as well as we are, don't you think? Then maybe they will remove themselves from the bubble, and begin to relate.

then come up with your own plan, do just criticize

Quit enslaving working class people to pay the way for those who refuse to work........use stimulus money to invest in companies that will employ people from the welfare ranks, teaching them to work, teaching them to have pride in themselves.

Actually, the WHO ranks our healthcare system as the 37th "best in the world". Right ahead of Slovenia. Socialist France is number 1.

This blue dog should get his mouth washed out with soap.Where is Montana?

Exactly how will taxing health care benefits lower costs? CNN, that is one glaring factor that is MISSING in this article. The CBO Director makes this claim based on what data/facts exactly? Why does your network continuously allow individuals to make claims without also including the background data, research, calculations, etc., that substantiates their claim? Pathetic reporting as usual - "he said this, he said that." What about the facts INDEPENDENT of what each side claims - you know, actual INFORMATION!

I don't think so! Folks need to STOP reporting the CBO is non-partisan or substantiate this claim with actual data. It appears nearly everybody AND organization/institution in this country is partisan - too include the corporate Mainstream Media (yes you CNN)!

How's that for no tax increase? This amounts to the biggest tax increase on the working class in our life-time. The tax brackets will stay the same, so your "leaders" will say it isn't really an increase. What a bunch of liars. The Republicans destroyed Iraq. The Democrats are destroying America.

Baucus must be an idiot, if he thinks his political career would survive pushing this tax on his constituents. Montana is still a relatively conservative state. I'd really like to know who the Deceptacons are buying their crack from these days. This type of wealth redistribution won't fly with mainstream America.

Why don't we tax the real source of our health care woes; sugar, soda, candy, junk food, etc.? The tax should be significant, comparable to the taxes on alcohol and tobacco.
Here's a question? Is nationalized agriculture the same as nationalized health care?

If President Obama agreed to tax health benefits it would kill his chance at re-election, no matter what else he accomplishes. This is an insane idea. Tax the greedy rich, they can afford it.

I am a life long Democrat who is no fan of Obama, but really, is there anything this Democratic Congress won't tax? Are they so insulated from reality that they don't realize we already pay an enormous amount for health care and taxing us on top of what we already pay will seriously damage our financial footing?

I would rather deal with a government bureaucrat than an for profit insurance company bureaucrat.

Call your Senator and demand a Federal Health option.

John, "The best health care system in the world" That may be true if you have health insurance. Get out of the country club and talk to the "real people in the country", then you will see how the average "Joe" struggles with the cost of health care each day. Not all of us have the luxury of government paid insurance. We that do often have to settle for cheaper treatment and generick drugs.

These guys are disgraceful. We already have a system that rations care and raises costs, in order to enlarge the profit margins of the insurance industry. This is not the best health care system in the world. Why can't they expand the federal employees insurance plan to include the rest of us, the same health care they get. It works fine for them. If government is run so poorly, Boehner can thank himself because he was one of many helping to pass legislation during the Republican hey day. He seems to be criticizing himself for doing a poor job of running the government. I agree with him.

How did Montanans ever put a left wing radical like Baucus in the Senate?

No Universal Health care for Americans should equal the end of government sponsored health care for Congress. End of story.

let's see the congress give up their "FREE" (paid by taxpayers) gold plated health care plans and free food, barber shops, security, servants and car + driver.

Hey senator, is it possible your president is doing a flip flop on his own party....................???? This may be an okay week after all.

So Senator Baucus is annoyed that Obama is opposed to stealing money from working, productive, Americans in order to reward the shiftless parasites who elected him. Do I have that more or less right?

Republicans don't mind spending trillions on an illegal war or rebuilding a foreign country like they did Iraq yet hate to spend money on American citizens. BTW it is a fact GWB spend 950 billion dollars on Iraqi health care that the rethuglicans approved.

You just can't make this stuff up.

A sitting president taxing the daylights out of the citizenry, and a senator saying your not taxing the citizenry enough.

Only in the democratic party.

Using the fact that health care is broken to justify the new house health bill is like smashing your printer with a sledgehammer because it ran out of ink.

Obama can't support taxing Health care benefits........he tore John McCain apart for suggesting that. It is insane to think they should tax that anyway. Isn't the object for people to be insured and not need the public option? Democrats need to reprogram their brains against Taxation. Public option should be paid for by those needing it, not those who don't.

Dont touch my healthcare benifits!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Obama said TAXES WOULD BE LOWER UNDER HIM.

OBAMA LIES STRAIGHT TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

"I don't see any Republicans that have any interest in voting to ration care for their constituents, raise costs to their constituents, and put the federal government in charge of the best health care system in the world," said House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio.

That is why we have families filing for bankruptcy, companies moving jobs overseas, and people not getting the medical services they need, right Mr. Boehner?

Good. There is at least one Honest Democrat.
Barack is a liar.
He said he would not tax benefits.
Now he is going to.
TAXES are GOING UP and we are all going to pay.
It is WRONG to say "oh lets just tax the rich"
THat is a bunch of crap.
Get a job. You then can afford health insurance or you can save your money and pay YOUR medical bills. IT is NOT my problem or responsibility to pay anyones medical bills.
VOTE NO ON HEALTH CARE BILL.

In a time when unemployment is reaching the double digits and employers are seeing layoffs as an easy solution to cut costs, why is our government proposing a tax on health insurance benefits? This would hurt employers (especially those in small businesses that offer health insurance plans). We need answers that will actually encourage employers to hire American workers, not another reason to ship jobs overseas and cut more workers.

Does this quote strike you as odd, "Baucus' criticism came on the same day the head of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said the health reform bills moving through Congress won't reduce long-term health care costs — in part because the bills don't include taxes on health benefits. " Ok so the CBO says that the health reform bills won't reduce long-term health care costs, UNLESS they tax health benefits? And granted this is taxing the rich, but again...Pelosi states that Democrats "still plan to tax the rich."

That is a great way to get more and more wealthy Democrats to shy away from the party. I mean you don't hit people in their pocketbook...not to mention the bill annoys Blue Dog Democrats like me.

Pelosi and Baucus, listen to Obama...you don't want to get the independents pissed, because the Democratic Party will need them in 2012.

Amazing, Boehner thinks that a health system that costs twice as much as that of France (recognized as having the best system in the world), leaves 50 million uninsured, and is the major cause of personal bankruptcies is the best in the world? I also don't see Boehner giving up the socialized health care he gets as a member of Congress.

It's becoming apparent that Boehner, the GOP and the Blue Dogs are not working for the American people, but for the insurance industry. I did not hear nearly as much argument when $1 Trillion was being spent in Iraq (Halliburton had good lobbyists). Besides, the $1 Trillion banded about for health care is over 10 years – that is only $100B per year out of a $3.5 Trillion annual budget.

Yea baucas, your helping yourself... (SHUT UP) The President is keeping you in (POWER) be Quiet and follow the leader...........

Just tax health benefits to rich who make more than 250k....it is fair...but fix the health care...it is needed....don't cry....it is a must and ought...to fix health care now....don't bring lobbyists come into picture...they are menace....ok

Could someone tell Boehner his rhetoric is a tad old. He may have the best health care system in the world, but the rest of don't. We have a system based on profits, which means we have insurers denying and rationing care all the time. We spend more for our health care than many other countries yet have higher infant mortality rates and shorter life expectancies. I was a health care administrator for 20 years and I've seen things that would break the hearts of just about everyone except these cold hearted, mean spirited Republicans who refuse to put the American people first.

You have a MD saying this will raise health care. What more do you need?

If this passes the Gov. controls you from birth till death...hmmm not looking so good.