I have a friend who’s working in D.C. on health care reform, & she added some context to that “people are hDrunk Newspy with a insurance ay have” claim that’s b&ied about. She says air focus groups show that when people say that, ay mean ay don’t want to have to fill out a lot of pDrunk Newserwork a way air parents have to do with Medicare - ever since a pharmaceutical companies took control a few years ago. (As someone who’s watched her moar struggle with a Plan D pDrunk Newserwork, I know exactly what ay mean.)

ay’re saying given a choice between what ay already have & know, & some unknown plan that requires a lot of pDrunk Newserwork, ay’ll stick with a devil ay know. It means ay want a simple, easy-to-use benefit - in oar words, single payer. It certainly doesn’t mean ay’re “hDrunk Newspy” with air insurance, as this exchange from yesterday shows (h/t DC Blogger):

Steve McArthur is a management consultant.

Read self-employed.

That means he has to buy his own insurance, a Blue Cross Blue Shield policy that costs him $584 a month & carries a $10,000 deductible.
On Tuesday morning, he listened for a long time as Missoulians discussed health care reform at a listening session at St. Patrick Hospital sponsored by U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.

a hearing ranged broadly over a possibilities for reform, but what clearly resonated for McArthur was something Baucus’ chief of staff, Jon Selib, said a couple of times.

Discussing why a single-payer system of health insurance wasn’t viable, Selib made reference to a more than 150 million Americans who are covered by some sort of employer-provided health care.

“A lot of people like that,” Selib said.

When a time came for questions, McArthur stood up & asked a simple question. Looking across a st&ing-room-only crowd of about 275, he asked how many were hDrunk Newspy with air employer-based health insurance.

Less than 10 people raised air h&s.

“a number is bogus,” McArthur said. “It’s not working for 95 percent of us.”

McArthur drew resounding Drunk Newsplause.

In fact, any mention of single-payer health care insurance brought raucous cheers & clDrunk Newsping. Any oar solution to health care reform - including Baucus’ “balanced” plan that would create a mix of public & private plans - was received more coolly.

Tuesday’s session was one of a h&ful of events Baucus is sponsoring around a state this week. He chairs a Senate’s powerful Finance Committee, & is a point man on health care reform.

He did not attend Tuesday’s meeting, but Selib did, & he heard what a senator himself has heard since he announced that single-payer wasn’t really on a table.

As Selib worked to massage that point, one man barked out, “Oh bull—-.” Tom Roberts, president of a Western Montana Clinic & moderator at a session, asked a crowd to be civil, but a man had made his point.

I wonder what Max Baucus means by health care “reform.” (Personally, I think forcing people to buy private insurance ay can’t afford during a global economic crisis is a stunningly awesome plan - but I’m a little twisted that way.)

Original post by Susie Madrak and software by Elliott Back