Max Baucus: “the effect of this amendment is not as described. It is similar to the amendment on privatizing Social Security. He said…”

“the effect of this amendment is not as described. It is similar to the amendment on privatizing Social Security. He said it was not; it was. He says this amendment gives people health insurance. It does not. What does it do? This is a death spiral for companies that provide health insurance for their employees because this amendment will have the effect of causing, for companies that have health insurance for their employees, those employees to leave the health insurance they have and get their own, particularly if they are young and healthy, which will mean the insurance plan the company provides will not work, and that is why it is a death spiral. This will have the effect of hurting small businesses that provide health insurance for their employees because younger, healthier people will leave to get their own, and that will cause the employer-provided coverage to disappear. This should not be done in middle of the night. We should have overall health reform, not this pernicious amendment.”