Max Baucus, that wonderful inclusionary senator from Montana (more on that later), has submitted his plan for Health Insurance Reform. (Note that I use the term Health Insurance, Health Care Reform is no longer on the plate) Max submitted his legislation and immediately it got hit with hundreds of modifications or amendments.

Max’s bill holds a great glaring problem for most of us Americans. There is no facility for a public option, nor is there any real support for inclusionary insurance coverage for the majority of Americans. Max’s deal seems to be, if you breathe, you must buy insurance from his pals in the health insurance industry. There is minimal support for those who are in such dire straits that affodability of medicine is out of the question in most cases, let alone the requirement to purchase an insurance policy from one of the very few companies that are still in the game.

The biggest problem I see with Max’s bill is the tremendous focus on individual policies. That is also the focus of the “bipartisan” plan from Wyden and Bennet (Democrat and Republican respectively). The entire focus on these plans it to move people into individually purchased insurance policies. The insurance companies are going to love that.

The stupid word is being revived again, CONSUMER as in Consumer Directed Health Plan or Individual Consumer policies. Folks, I have been ranting about that stupid word for more than three years. Health Care is NOT, let me repeat this, IS NOT a consumer product. When you are sick, you are a PATIENT and you do not have the inclination or the capacity to “shop for health care”.

Only a blithering idiot would continue to use that focus, yet here we have Baucus, Wyden and Bennet all joining in with the conservatives to push Consumer centric health care. Bull crap folks.

Anyone ever had to deal with an insurance company who has denied a claim for medical care? I have and if it had not been for the fact that I was in a GROUP program, I would have been out tens of thousands of dollars. One Claim was denied because the anesthiesologist was not in the network. Excuse me, I was in a hospital, undergoing surgery and both the surgeon and the anesthesologist were on the hospital staff. I am supposed to halt the surgery to check their network affiliations? Not with a tumor in my colon, thank you very much.

Baucus has run into quite a buzz saw so far, none of his “bipartisan” team from the Republican side has stuck with him. All have basically said no as we all felt would be the end result. However, Senator Snowe of Maine has submitted several amendments that might make the Baucus bill a bit more tolerable?

The simple fact is, that if the Max Baucus Finance Committee bill is the keystone to the Obama Health Insruance Reform, hold on to your seats folks, it’s going to get really bumpy from now on.

Bu then why would we think it would be any different? Millions of dollars are being paid by the health care industry to the senators and representatives in our Congress. The average American stands a snow ball’s chance in hell of being recognized as someone with a valid opinion.