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Sen. Lincoln Hammered With Questions On Public Option During Online Chat
Christina Bellantoni | October 19, 2009, 10:38AM
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Public option supporters bombarded Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) with questions last night about why she doesn't back a public option in the health care fight, with one constituent fretting about losing her seat to a Republican.
"We are terribly disappointed that you have caved in to the insurance industry and failed to support the public option for health care. It may very well affect our vote for you in the next election," Ray and Judy told her on the chat, which is posted online.
"Unfortunately the insurance companies opposed the bill I supported in the Finance Committee. There are many ways to provide greater options and choices to individuals, including non-profits, a state plan, and a co-op plan," Lincoln wrote back.
But that wasn't the last word. Lincoln got six more questions along the same lines.
Stan Wilson asked, "Again why are you opposed to a public option or everyone having the same health care options that you have?"
"That is exactly what I am for," Lincoln argued. "I am for expanding health care options for everyone just like the options that I and 8 million other federal employees have. Today the state of Arkansas has one or two options for customers. My goal is to expand that to dozens of choices."
"Nathan - Rogers" asked, "As long as hospitals and insurance company executive are paid based on the profits their companies make, how can we expect the focus to be on the patient without a public option?"
"We're changing that by changing the rules for insurance," was her response.
Next up was Jesse Barr of Winslow, AR, who blared: "Competition is the ONLY way to make the insurance corporations change their behavior!"
"I share your views," Lincoln said. "Providing competition and choice is the best way to make insurance companies change their behavior and be more competitive. It is also the best way to provide more affordable choices for people. Changing the rules is the first step towards forcing the competition."
Politics was on the chat agenda as well, since Lincoln is up for reelection next fall.
"Senator, please get this right - don't give our seat to the Republicans," pleaded "Hershey from Fayetteville."
"My first concern is about how health insurance reform will affect the people of Arkansas. I know that I will be accountable at the next election, but this issue is not about politics. It's about people, it's about our country, and it's about our state," the senator replied.
"Doc" from Fayetteville told Lincoln she seems "more inclined to keep insurance companies in the health care business than you are to see people provided health care."
Lincoln's response: "We already have an employer based, private health care system. We are trying to make it more affordable for everyone. We can't just throw it all out and start over, but we can make it more efficient and more affordable for everyone."
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The Old Grouch
October 19, 2009 10:51 AM
If there is one thing incumbents fear more than the loss of campaign contributions (bribes) it is the loss of votes - because it deprives them of access to the aforementioned bribes.
The answer is what we now see. Turn up the constituent heat on the recalcitrant Senators.
Encourage them to be like the old-school Texas pols the late, wonderful Molly Ivins described, who would "take their money, drink their whiskey, screw their women, and vote against them anyway."
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toxophilite
October 19, 2009 10:51 AM
Excellent questions and comments! Unlike Baggers, the comments and questions here sound focused and rational. Lincoln's answers sound wimpy at best. Hopefully, in review, she'll hear herself, count her political chickens, and get a modicum of bravery going there.
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Moose49
October 19, 2009 10:55 AM
She's already down in the polls and probably will lose next fall. What she has to ask herself is does she want to go down swinging and be a profile in courage? Or will she lose as a weasel and wimp? Besides which, showing that she's a fighter for working families -- showing some populist cred -- might actually give her a better chance anyway.
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LindaR
October 19, 2009 11:54 AM in reply to Moose49
She is more concerned about unemployment insurance -- her own.
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tosh
October 19, 2009 1:48 PM in reply to LindaR
And she's looking for unemployment insurance: her $$$ from Big Health, Big Energy and the Waltons once she gets bounced. She knows she's likely to go down, so she's going to keep selling out.
Admittedly it's quite a problem for us. Often when one knows that they're going down, they'll start voting their heart rather than worrying about what works in the polls or in raising campaign money. For Blanche, she has an entirely different motivation.
I think we're going to see a lot of this in the future. People raising to a certain level and when it's close, being willing to sell out for the millions that will be coming their way post political career. They see what Newtie and Armey are making, and they want some.
John
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Xantar
October 19, 2009 10:56 AM
So she doesn't support the public option because...the insurance companies opposed it? Did I get that right?
Setting aside the fact that this is terrible policy, I'm astounded that she's basically admitting that she's doing the bidding of insurance companies. Is she really that stupid?
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Indie Pro
October 19, 2009 10:58 AM
"Unfortunately the insurance companies opposed the bill I supported in the Finance Committee. "
only the softening of the mandate, which was done due to the lack of subsidies.
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Mateo123
October 19, 2009 11:00 AM
It was great to see the online chat -- and to see Blanche Lincoln getting grilled for her refusal to go along with a public option. Great to see. I would have liked to have seen more folks without insurance talking to her about the public option -- and its need -- and maybe other senators and Representatives who handle these online town halls will hear from uninsured constituents.
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AJM
October 19, 2009 11:16 AM
She first tried to peddle the idea that her constituents didn't want the public option -- she got proved wrong by the polls. So she is now trying to claim that she opposes public option on policy grounds and because it is not politically feasible. Since she is a good part of the political opposition to it this is not plausible.
She needs to state clearly whether or not she thinks a bill with public option would be better. If the answer is no she should be unelected and probably will be. If the answer is yes, she needs to get off her duff and fight for it. Then she'd have a chance at getting re-elected and working for all the other good things she may have in mind.
She needs to decide whether helping the insurance companies is worth losing her seat for.
So far she's had some very bad political advice.
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Campesino
October 19, 2009 1:42 PM in reply to AJM
She first tried to peddle the idea that her constituents didn't want the public option -- she got proved wrong by the polls. So she is now trying to claim that she opposes public option on policy grounds and because it is not politically feasible. Since she is a good part of the political opposition to it this is not plausible.
=====================================================================
Are there polls from Arkansas showing most of the voters there wanting a public option?
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Ann Arbor
October 19, 2009 2:05 PM in reply to Campesino
Yes.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/strong-majority-of-arkansans-support-public-option.php
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Campesino
October 19, 2009 4:59 PM in reply to Ann Arbor
What do you think you'd get from a dKos poll? There's other polls from the same time period that show a great deal of opposition to Dem health plans that I believe Lincoln is paying attention to
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/PPP_Release_AR_825.pdf
On health care, just 29% of Arkansans say they support Obama’s plans with 60%
opposed. On that front he has the support of only 54% of Democrats and 20% of
independents.
http://www.tarrance.com/AR%20Statewide%20Health%20Care%20Survey%20(Key%20Strategic%20Finding%20Charts).pdf
Do you favor or oppose creating a government run health insurance program to compete with
private health insurance companies?”
Favor - 37% Oppose - 58% Unsure - 6%
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AJM
October 19, 2009 11:29 PM in reply to Campesino
If I remember correctly the Obama plan got less support than the one with a public option. Further, public opinion nationwide has been moving in the direction of supporting public option.
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AJM
October 19, 2009 11:27 PM in reply to Campesino
One from Kos as I recall and also a logical deduction from the extrapolations done by Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.com some time back.
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Mr.E.
October 19, 2009 3:06 PM in reply to AJM
I don't know her history or who is giving her advice. The better question might be to discern whether she is getting bad political advice or good career advice, i.e. "if you oppose reform, we'll keep contributing to you, and if you lose, we have a lucrative job offer for you, or you support reform, and we contribute to your opponent, and offer you no job after you lose."
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Walter Mitty
October 19, 2009 11:31 AM
She won't support the public option because it will hurt her post-political career. That six figure health insurance job waiting for her would be gone.
She'll lose in 2010 and head right into the waiting arms of the insurance racket.
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willia451
October 19, 2009 12:31 PM
Hey Harry Reid. Is BL one of the Senators that won't vote for cloture on a Bill including a PO?
We need to know.
Otherwise, we'll just assume she IS, and aggressively work to get her out of the Party next year.
I mean, if you can't stand with the Party on cloture, on the signature issue of our generation, so a healthcare reform bill with a strong PO in it (that the vast majority of Democrats support) can get an up or down vote, then you don't belong in the Democratic Party.
Period.
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xargaw
October 19, 2009 12:52 PM
Lincoln appears to be a bought and paid for insurance lobbyist pretending to be a Senator. We all have irrefutable evidence that Reid is an ineffective wimp, but the blame for this healthcare fiasco starts at the very top with Obama. He handed the entire effort to the Congress and made them all fair game for the lobbyists with no accountability to this Administration. He has been more than willing to give away all this campaign bullet point issues on healthcare reform, including the most important, an public program accessible to all Americans. In the end, it will be Obama's failure, not the Congress, although they will all pay dearly in 2010. He has pulled a classic "bait and switch" and his base can play that game too.
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chimpale
October 19, 2009 3:14 PM
Nice double-talk, Blanche. Let's go through this a step at a time.
1) "We already have an employer based, private health care system." That's right. How does that address the unemployed, the underemployed, contractors, small business owners, or people whose employers can't afford to provide health insurance? You totally evaded the question.
2)"We are trying to make it more affordable for everyone." Okay, and letting the insurance companies still run the show and not have to compete against any other provider accomplishes that how? You leave the insurance companies with their monopolies and the right to jack up rates arbitrarily. How does that make it more affordable?
3) "We can't just throw it all out and start over..." How does it "throw it all out" when you provide a public option for all those people who the insurance companies don't even want to insure? People who can afford insurance and already have it won't see anything change. What the hell would you be "starting over"? That doesn't even make sense.
4) "...but we can make it more efficient and more affordable for everyone." Describe this efficiency that's going to make private insurance affordable for those who can't afford it now. The inefficiency is the presence of the private insurers standing between doctors and their patients.
Seriously now, who scripted this double-talk for you? Was it your staff or one of the lobbyists? Illogic and non-sequiturs. Way to respect your constituents, Blanche.
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hollywood
October 19, 2009 3:16 PM
The people of Arkansas are not going to vote for or against Lincoln based on a cloture vote. They don't understand that much about the process to give a shit. They will vote for or against her because they feel their life is going to get better with the new rules on health insurance PERIOD. If she is seen backing a plan that puts average people in control of their lives she wins, if she votes to keep the insurance companies in control she looses.
On another level if the insurance companies win this there will be thousands of people in Arkansas going bankrupt and dying because they cannot afford to play the game. Lincoln should ultimately make her decision based on the lives of these people. Will she stab them all in the back and let them die or stand up and vote for them to survive and prosper. Honestly if it was not thousands and just one person I do not know how one human chooses to betray another for a little extra cash in some bank account. I guess I am not a republican.
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Rader
October 19, 2009 11:35 PM
Blanche Lincoln knows she is history, and she could not care less about what voters in Arkansas think. At this point, she is only interested in showing lobbying firms that she will be true to THEM. She's going to be needing a new job next year, and they will be her next employer. Voters in Arkansas can take a flying leap as far as the (dis)honorable Senator from Arkansas is concerned.
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