Baucus Releases Draft Bill to Bipartisan Criticism

Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) announced the release of a draft health care reform bill described by The New York Times as "a legislative proposal that meets many of the requirements that President Obama laid out in his address to Congress last week." These include requiring the purchase of insurance, bans on exclusions for pre-existing conditions, expansion of Medicaid eligibility standards to cover low-income uninsured, government subsidies to help middle income citizens afford insurance, limits on out-of-pocket medical expenses, and private co-ops rather than a government public option.

Ezra Klein describes the political problem the Baucus plan faces on his Washington Post blog.

He's got a bill full of the compromises meant to attract Republican support, but no Republican support. Not even Olympia Snowe, at this point, has committed to backing the bill. Meanwhile, the framework has conceded enough to the GOP that it's also losing Democratic support, including that of Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Finance Committee's Health Care Subcommittee. And Rockefeller says that four to six Democrats on the committee feel similarly. Baucus is thus caught between a rock and a hard place. The absence of any Republican support makes it hard for him to justify his compromises. And his compromises make it hard for the Democrats on the committee to support his bill.

Andrew Sullivan predicts many more twists and turns to come in this story on The Daily Dish.

--Ballard Burgher