Contributor

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.

Committee Chairman Finance Committee, U.S. Senate

Biography provided by participant

Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is chairman of the influential Senate Finance Committee, a panel on which he has served for 26 years. The committee's jurisdiction includes taxes, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program, and international trade. The Finance Committee is also responsible for examining all budget and tax plans that come before Congress. In 2003, Senator Baucus co-wrote and passed major prescription drug and health care legislation to provide prescription drug benefits for millions of seniors. In 2007, he led the Senate in passing landmark, bipartisan legislation to renew and improve the Children's Health Insurance Program, which brings health coverage to children whose parents do not qualify for Medicaid, but who cannot afford private health insurance. In 2008, he has dedicated the work of the committee to preparation for comprehensive health reform in 2009, with a major series of hearings and a health reform summit at the Library of Congress on June 16, 2008. Senator Baucus is known in the U.S. Senate as a moderate who works together with his colleagues to do what's right for Montana and America.

Recent Responses

June 21, 2010 07:45 AM

Employer Flexibility, Consumer Protection

When writing the health care reform law, known as the Affordable Care Act, we made sure reform would bring stability, affordability and consumer protections to the health insurance system for American workers and their families. Many of the consumer benefits in this new law have already gone into effect, and over the coming months, many more will be implemented. The specifics of one important provision, the promise that “if you like the plan you have, you can keep it,” were recently detailed in a regulation issued by the Departments of Health and Human Services, Treasury and Labor.

That regulation makes clear that individuals and families will be able to keep their existing plans if they like them and it spells out the important protections consumers will benefit from under the law. This regulation is also important because it provides flexibility to permit employers who offer quality insurance to make routine changes while still continuing to offer the same coverage to employees. And it protects employees by discouraging employers

February 26, 2010 09:57 AM

Bipartisan Ideas Already In Bills

We owe it to the American people to let facts – not rhetoric – define this discussion. I’m glad that we could come together to sit down and talk about the facts. The facts I heard today indicate that we have so many areas of agreement and many of these bipartisan ideas are already in our bill. Republicans and Democrats agree we should focus on prevention. We agree we should give individuals and small businesses a new marketplace where they can pool together to get lower rates. We agree we should aggressively fight fraud, waste and abuse. These are just some of the many areas where we agree.

I was pleased that our focus today was making our health care system more affordable and more sustainable. Too many families and too many small businesses are struggling under our broken system. For these hard-working families and small businesses, it is clear that we must pass health reform. And we must pass it this year.