Sen. Baucus says he no longer fears ‘train wreck’ when ObamaCare begins

Sen. Max Baucus on Monday said he no longer fears ObamaCare will be a “train wreck.”

Baucus, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said his memorable warning about the law earlier this year served its intended purpose by forcing the White House to deal with concerns about the rollout.

“We’ll see Oct. 1, but I think they are doing a pretty good job,” Baucus said in an interview with Fox Business Network. “I think the train is going to keep running, maybe not totally on time, but it’s going to be pretty efficient.”

{mosads}The Montana Democrat was one of the Affordable Care Act’s chief architects and made waves in April by saying that public ignorance about the law could significantly hamper its implementation.

“I just see a huge train wreck coming down,” he told Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at a hearing. “You and I have discussed this many times, and I don’t see any results yet.”

Republicans seized on the remark as evidence that even Democrats were unhappy with ObamaCare’s rollout and have repeatedly cited it since then to criticize the law.

The comment “did create a stir,” Baucus said Monday.

“I got a lot of phone calls, no question about that, especially from the administration,” Baucus said.

The comment came as other Democratic lawmakers complained that the administration was not keeping them abreast of developments involving healthcare reform. In response, the administration stepped up its outreach to Capitol Hill.

“Sometimes you’ve got to say something to get someone’s attention,” Baucus said. “That was the whole point of it, and we got their attention and worked to try to straighten things out.”