Banning single payer advocates from three Senate Finance Committee
hearings on health care reform last month was “an absolute mistake.”

That’s the take of Senator Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota).

“It was an absolute mistake that single payer (advocates) didn’t have
the opportunity to testify,” Senator Conrad told Single Payer Action.
“It’s not right. People should have had the ability to testify.”

Last month, Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) had thirteen doctors, nurses, and other single payer advocates arrested after they demanded that at least one
single payer advocate be allowed to testify.

Not one of the 41 people who testified at three days of hearings
before the committee was a single payer advocate.

Baucus later admitted that it was a mistake to ban the single payer
advocates from the hearing.

And he said that he would use the power of his office to get the criminal charges against the Baucus 13 dismissed.

But prosecutors in the case said on Monday that they have not heard from Senator
Baucus’ office about dropping the criminal charges against the Baucus 13.

Senator Conrad told Single Payer Action today that he would ask Senator Baucus to
call on prosecutors to drop the charges.

When asked whether he supports single payer, Conrad said — “that’s really not what is important here.”

“That’s not the issue,” Conrad said. “The issue is what can we do that reforms the health care system and gets the votes.”