One in which single payer is considered off the table inside the rarified airs of Congress, but when President Obama ventures into a town hall meeting with regular folks, the first question he is asked is:

"Why have they taken single-payer off the plate?" asked one woman in the audience to great applause. "And why is Senator Baucus on the Finance Committee discussing health care when he has received so much money from the pharmaceutical companies? Isn't it a conflict of interest?"

Watch here:

And one in which Drew Altman, CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation can ponder today about how baffling it is that the "experts" -- presumably people like him who was given a seat at the table by Baucus -- sees the world so differently than the vast majority of Americans struggling to survive a cruel, inefficient, and inhumane healthcare system:

The "experts" say the problem is too much "unnecessary" care. The public thinks too many people are being denied care they need.

The experts think costs are so high because consumers don't have enough "skin in the game" (i.e., we like to go to the doctor, get invasive tests, and endure long waits for care and high out of pocket costs). The public thinks the reason is "because drug and insurance companies make too much money."

The experts think health care information technology is a panacea to improve quality and cut costs. The public thinks it will probably increase costs (the Congressional Budget Office happens to agree) and are concerned about the privacy of their medical records.

The experts think we must have comparative research to limit future costs. The public thinks "insurers should pay even if their doctor recommends a treatment that has not been proven to be more effective than a cheaper one." (Imagine, getting the care you actually paid your insurance company to provide, what a concept)

Either we need to get more in tune with the self-appointed experts, or they ought to listen to what the people actually think. Or perhaps, as Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine told the Great Falls Tribune in Baucus' home state of Montana,"Single-payer is simply considered not realistic for a politician. The medical industrial complex just won't permit it."

But at a price, to our health, to the well being and financial security of American families, and to the cause of health care reform.

Or as Michael Lighty, national policy director for the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee put it: