Hagan Comes Out In Support Of Public Option
As I reported yesterday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee unveiled its plan for a public health insurance option after a weeks-long delay, and leaders announced that it had the support of every Democrat on the panel...including Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC).
Last night, Hagan made it official in a joint statement with committee members. "My colleagues and I on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee have been working on a plan to reform the health care system in this country," Hagan said. "We have crafted a plan that will stabilize health care costs and includes a Community Health Insurance Option, which I support."
This clears the path for the legislation to be moved out of committee. Until now, her objections to the public option were blocking it. That raised the ire of liberal groups like MoveOn, which targeted her directly. Now, everyone's friends again. "MoveOn commends Senator Hagan for deciding to support the health care reform bill that the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee released today, which includes a national public health insurance option," MoveOn Executive Director Justin Ruben said in a statement.
A public health insurance option will lower the cost of insurance and medical care for everyone, and put an end to many of the predatory practices of private insurers. This measure is the heart of health care reform and is supported by MoveOn's five million members as well as the majority of the American people. With the support of legislators like Senator Hagan, we can come closer to our goal of making quality health insurance accessible and affordable for everyone.
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
Thank goodness. Many of us in NC were glad to give Liddy Dole the heave-ho, and Hagan was -- truth be told -- mostly an unknown quality, sort of the not-Dole candidate. She didn't advertise or campaign all that much in the Western part of the state (which is very conservative except for one blessed oasisWhen the story of her being an obstructions broke last week, I was quite disappointed, thinking, "oh well, more of the same." So this is great news.
July 3, 2009 9:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Watauga County Boone???
July 3, 2009 12:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Asheville.
July 3, 2009 5:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
"unknown QUANTITY," I meant. Sure wish we could edit posts...
July 3, 2009 10:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
'quality' would have done nicely
the jury's still out actually, since we don't know what she's doing to help or hurt a truly strong public plan
she still should be challenged from the progressive direction throughout her term to keep her responsive to the people who elected her
July 3, 2009 10:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Al Franken is slated to join the HELP cmte next week. That will certainly reduce her leverage. Maybe she saw that handwriting on the wall and decided to go with the flow.
July 4, 2009 5:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Quality actually fits better than quantity anyway.
Had to get this rock appraised and what looked like a big fat flaw actually may have been a minor superficial scuff. Still, why was she so against the public option to begin with and why did it take such an effort to get her to change her mind?
July 5, 2009 11:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
I called her last week and "informed" the person who answered, who told me she was "studying" the issue, that she would never be re-elected if she caved on this. I want to call back and promise that I will contribute to her next run but can't find the phone #. Anyone have it?
July 3, 2009 10:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
202-224-6342 is the number. I would have faxed her to urge support for the public plan choice, but there are no fax numbers for most (all?) of the senators elected in 2008. This is great news.
Toll-free for North Carolina residents: 877-852-9462 is on her website, plus two local NC offices. Nice looking home page - and she displays the ARRA Recovery logo prominently. From the browsing I've done, whether or not there is a link to the state's recovery spending is not a sure thing, so she's smart to gather important links in one place for Tar Heels.
July 3, 2009 11:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks!
July 3, 2009 11:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well whaddya know, putting public pressure on these critters can actually work.
July 3, 2009 10:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
I heard Ben Nelson interviewed on NPR last night; he said that ads and phone calls have no effect on him at all because he always does what he thinks is right. I was dying for the interviewer to ask if the huge sums he is getting from the insurance industry also has no effect on him.
The interviewer did ask one good question: essentially, could he vote for cloture on a bill, like health care, even when he would ultimately vote against the bill? Of course I could predict the answer -- oh, yes. I consider everything separately and I always do the right thing blah blah blah....
July 3, 2009 11:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yea i couldnt care one bit if he votes against the bill if he votes to break the filibuster that is all we need from him.
July 3, 2009 11:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yea I think that if we can keep the pressure up voting yes before voting no is a promising scenario
July 3, 2009 11:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
I know, right? I emailed her office last week!
July 3, 2009 9:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow. Can I get a woot woot?
July 3, 2009 11:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
I've heard that what she supports is NOT an "option". In particular, what I've heard she supports excludes those who have "employer paid" health care. Quite the opposite of a public option.
Can anyone confirm this?
July 3, 2009 12:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
AT first I was adamant about single-payer universal coverage without exceptions such as the entire Federal Gov't. I really believe it is the only way to make it work. But it isn't going to happen.
So I am okay with a Public Option because it opens the door for a good eventual single-payer down the road (once the insurance industry is outed for the blood-suckers that they are.
The problem I have with denying the Public Option to people who already have employer-provided health insurance is, THESE ARE THE VERY PEOPLE WHO GO BANKRUPT because their coverage either is not good, or they LOSE it once they're sick enough to lose their jobs.
If that factor could be dealt with, I would go with that restriction JUST TO GET THE PUBLIC OPTION OUT THERE AS A FACT OF LIFE.
That is as far as I am willing to compromise -- Absolutely NO trigger (we've had a century plus of triggers that have fallen on deaf ears), and absolutely no co-ops. I know that no one is asking me this, but I just want to say that it is time to do what is right.
The biggest mistake (and it is tactically HUGE) that Obama made on this is taking Single-Payer off the table from the beginning as a big wet kiss to these politicians who owe their very being to the industry that has hamstrung our country for too long.
To begin the negotiations from the middle was absurdly ridiculous and I will never understand what he was thinking. Republicans will NEVER sign a bill that will actually improve health care for the middle-class because they know that once people realize what they have they will have a positive association with Democrats (like what happened in the UK) and they would do anything to destroy the Democratic Party (yes, it is pronounced DemocratIC, Mr. Boner!)
July 3, 2009 2:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
I disagree. Obama is very smart to not confuse values and strategy. The underlying value that he will not compromise is making health care effective and affordable. The strategy for getting there is not inviolate, though he has openly stated good reasons why a public option makes sense.
He's saying, "'Affordable and effective' is what we need to achieve; I'm open to all options for getting there; show me a better way than a public option if you can. Show the American people why this isn't better for them than anything else." He's essentially daring politicians to side with special interests over the people by laying bare their rationales, all the while expressing a pragmatic openness to anything that accomplishes the ultimate goal of making health care effective and affordable.
This allows him to position as a moderate, drag so-called moderates along kicking and screaming, and isolate the neanderthals (while also exposing them for what they are). Obama is the most brilliant politician I have ever seen.
July 3, 2009 6:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Then we must agree to disagree.
July 3, 2009 7:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
But you are right, once a public option becomes the norm, then we would move towards single payer in the future. Canada's shift to single payer took decades. But we have to start somewhere. Taking a public option off the table would "be more of the same". It just won't work, IMO.
July 5, 2009 11:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
Don't let anyone ever tell you ads, phone calls, letters, and public pressure, just in general, has no affect on politicians. They may publicly say it doesn't. That they vote for what they think is right, no matter what.
But that.......is........garbage.
Threaten their job, give them no money, embarrass them publicly, and you'll see how quickly their tune changes.
Need proof? Kirsten Gillibrand. She's gone from moderate/conservative blue dog, while a Congresswoman from NY-20, to one of the most consistently liberal voting Senators we have.
Threaten their ability to get re-elected, on any level, and ANY politician is going to take that, deadly seriously.
Hagan saw the light. Others will too.
July 3, 2009 12:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
The only thing that Congresscritters pay more attention to than sweet, sweet campaign cash is a flood of communications from constituients. If your cynicism is of a Naderite conspiratorial bent, you don't want to believe this. If your cynicism is of the kind that believes the reason they take campaign cash is that they want to be reelected, you see how and why its true and why they'll give the corporations the shaft most every time if the voters are watching.
And the weird part is that that's not too far from what the Founders had in mind.
July 3, 2009 12:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is ridiculous for politicians to maintain--as Nelson, probably Hagan, and countless others do--that everything they do is motivated by conscience. I don't claim that it never is; they're human, they are not only fallible, they have some good qualities of principle too. But suddenly seeing the light? There's nothing that provokes that epiphany like angry, demanding constituents. It's time for us to see the light. We can win this, at least a good, acceptable version of what we want. Our epiphany is that we can make things happen in this country. Bless the blogosphere.
July 3, 2009 5:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why do people here still think Obama is clever? So far, his "cleverness" has resulted in a stimulus package that was 40% tax cuts and has no chance of working, a bailout to the folks who caused this mess, the rescuing of companies that have no chance of long-term survival, a climate bill that gives away the store to agribusiness and power companies and has no chance of lowering emissions near enough to have any effect at all on global warming, and now the piece-de-resistance, a healthcare bill that will leave all the structural problems of the system intact. To the the casual progressive, it all looks good on paper, but the devil is in the details. The sad fact is that his half-assed initiatives will hurt the Dems in the long run. We will be in debt for a generation with little or nothing to show for it. Before anyone calls me a concern troll or whatever, be clear that my views are far to the left of Obama on all these issues. I am not disappointed, though, because I never expected anything more from him.
July 4, 2009 3:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm a little new around here. I try and stay as informed as possible but sometimes "life" gets in the way. So, forgive me for sounding stupid as I ask this simple question. Could someone please explain to me (or direct me to a link that explains) in detail how, exactly, the single payer system works? What are the pros and cons of it? The title of the program seems self-explanatory but I'm just not real clear on it and would love some help. Email me if you want.
fcleff69@yahoo.com
July 5, 2009 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink