He’s no longer beholden to his insurance industry masters.
It’s time for America to consider seriously a single-payer, government-run health system, says Max Baucus, Montana’s longest serving U.S. senator, former ambassador to China and one of the chief architects of Obamacare.
“My personal view is we’ve got to start looking at single-payer,” Baucus said Thursday night at Montana State University. “I think we should have hearings…. We’re getting there. It’s going to happen.”
It was a startling turnaround for Baucus, who eight years ago was chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee and a key Democratic leader in the political battles that ultimately passed the Affordable Care Act.
Back then, Baucus said, he felt adamantly that Congress wouldn’t pass a government-run system like Canada’s. So it was the one alternative he refused to put “on the table” for consideration.
He also offered some thoughts on the NK/China imbroglio.
Baucus served as ambassador to China for three years. He said he tried to talk to Chinese officials about North Korea, but it was often “like talking to a brick wall.” He said Obama’s discussions with the Chinese sometimes seemed like just checking off boxes.
Trump now is sending different messages, “hot and cold,” Baucus said. The solution to conflict with North Korea, he said, depends on working with China, and doing so with respect, carrots as well as stick.
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