by Paul Wylie

Created on: November 13, 2008

Democrats Need To Make A Course Correction
During the tumultuous primary season for the Democratic Party's nomination for president, many a Democrat shied away from backing Hillary Clinton due to her draconian health care reform message. Mrs. Clinton had been calling for a mandatory medical insurance program for every American, one which you had to buy insurance or face hefty fines.

To be fair, there were provisions in Mrs. Clintons plan to provide funding to expand the Medicare and Medicaid programs and to add additional funds to help those who couldn't afford their premiums to maintain their private insurance. There would be a 'clearinghouse' set up for Americans to go and be able to pick a plan that best suited their needs.

It was pointed out during the primaries by many of us that the 'universal' health care package being proposed by Mrs. Clinton was nothing short of extortion on one hand, due to the fine enforced mandatory buy in, (or the possibility of garnished wages) and that there wouldn't be any money in the current economy to fund the plans of those who couldn't afford to buy in, but made a dollar a month more than the current Medicaid cut off levels. In other words, even more people may have ended up with no medical coverage instead of more. Furthermore, we pointed out that Mrs. Clinton's plan did absolutely nothing to cut the middlemen out of the Medicaid and Medicare programs. In short, it was little more than a massive give away to the insurance industry.

Barak Obama rejected the Clinton plan right up to the moment he won the election. He had his own vision to expand health coverage, and while not perfect, did not include anything that was mandatory, nor was the word fine included in any of his plan's language.

Enter Democratic Senator Max Baucus of Montana. The Senate Finance Committee Chairman has just entered the fray with his own version of nationalized health care. It is so far to the right of what either President (elect) Obama or Senator Clinton proposed that it rightly is being called authoritarian by conservatives. The Baucus plan has ALL of the provisions that the Clinton plan has, but also includes a provision from the McCain plan. Not only does Max Baucas want to force every American to buy health insurance whether they can afford it or not, but once you get it, he believes you should be taxed on your health benefits once they reach a certain amount.

What sort of hogwash is this? Baucus, a moderate Democrat, can't determine which side of

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