Max Baucus

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The Day Single-Payer Won Over the Democratic Party

September 12, 2017 · 3:55 pm ET · Leave a Comment

The following post for members is by David T.S. Jonas, who most recently served as policy director for Tom Perriello’s (D) campaign for Virginia Governor.

When it comes to public policy, it’s comforting to think we’re all rational actors simply weighing trade offs and coming to the best possible framework that meets our collective goals. But in campaigns and in Congress, tribalism, money, and establishment power are often far better predictors of which ideas make it into policy debates and into our legal code.

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Baucus Now Supports Single-Payer Health Care

September 8, 2017 · 2:49 pm ET · Leave a Comment

Former Montana Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), a principle drafter of the Affordable Care Act who helped steer the bill toward the center in 2009, told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle that he now supports a single-payer system.

Said Baucus: “My personal view is we’ve got to start looking at single-payer. I think we should have hearings. We’re getting there. It’s going to happen.”

Sam Baker: “Just eight years ago, he refused to even hold a hearing on single-payer. To say now that he not only supports it, but that he thinks it’s inevitable, is a sign of just how dramatically Democrats are pulling to the left on health care.”