Two single payer doctors – members of the Baucus 8 – have dumped the Democratic Party.

In a letter to The Enterprise newspaper of southern Maryland, Dr. Margaret Flowers and Dr. Carol Paris announced that they had switched their voter registration from Democratic to Independent because “both major political parties have failed our patients and us.”

Flowers and Paris have been leaders in a nationwide movement for a single payer, Medicare for all health care system.

Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) ordered Flowers, Paris and six others arrested last May when they asked why single payer was taken off the table.

Baucus has close ties to the health insurance industry.

But he has since said that it was a mistake to take single payer off the table.

“The health insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies have spent $1.4 million per day this year to make sure no real reform happens,” Flowers and Paris wrote. “They have already claimed victory and are celebrating their success – 30 million more people to extort money from while providing a defective product. What a deal! Make no mistake though – their success comes at a great cost, especially to the middle class.”