The insurance issued by the public-option health-insurance provider envisioned in the U.S. House bill that is due for a vote soon will look somewhat familiar to Grand Valley residents, said U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo.
The public option will provide health coverage much like what is offered at Marillac Clinic in Grand Junction, Salazar said in an interview with The Daily Sentinel.
“I think the Grand Junction or Mesa County system has been used to some extent” as a model for the health-care changes contained in the measure being debated in the House, Salazar said.
In discussions with constituents in the 3rd Congressional District, which includes most of the Western Slope and southern Colorado, most told him that change “has to be some kind of health-care reform that helps the middle class. That’s exactly what we’re hoping to do with this.”
Salazar never distanced himself from the public option, he said, but used his position within the 55-member Blue Dog Coalition to accomplish reform that would help rural America.
Among those goals were the establishment of a health-insurance exchange, allowing the federal government to negotiate with drugmakers and getting control of the health-insurance industry by eliminating such things as denials or rejections of coverage based on pre-existing conditions.
“The beauty of this thing is that we’ve created a system in which every American is qualified to get the same health-care plan that members of Congress get,” he said.
The public-option government health-insurance plan will attract only about 2 percent of buyers, he said, citing Congressional Budget Office findings.
Not everyone will be able to purchase coverage from the public plan because it will be limited to people with incomes 400 percent of the poverty level or less, he said.
The public-option plan will be part of the insurance exchange and will have to negotiate with health-care providers on its rates. That represents a major victory for rural America, which gets the short end of the stick when Medicare sets rates, he said.
“We held out for that one,” he said of the Blue Dogs. “I’m excited about that piece. Hospitals around the district are barely making it.”
Private insurance companies won’t be threatened by the public option, he said.
“Insurance companies are making a lot of money,” he said. “You compete by the quality of care you offer.”
The public option will be a basic health care policy that will take care of cancer, he said, “not face-lifts.”
Medicare and private insurance have gone astray, he said, citing coverage that provides motorized wheelchairs and treatments for erectile dysfunction. Why taxpayers fund Viagra prescriptions is the “stupidest, silliest thing,” he said.
That Congress has been lax in monitoring health care is demonstrated by sales of motorized wheelchairs that are advertised as being funded by Medicare, he said.
Insurance companies are making “big-time bucks” on such programs, he said. “It’s one thing to provide basic health care Americans need, and it’s another thing to go over top,” he said.
Concerns that federal money will be used to fund abortions are misplaced, Salazar said. Safeguards are built into the bill to prevent exactly that, he said.
“It’s very clear” that no funding from the public plan will be used to pay for abortions, he said, “I wish people would quit making up these myths.”
His staff has gone through the House bill, and he has read the specific sections in which he has the greatest concerns, Salazar said. The measure will reduce the deficit, he said, if Congress doesn’t cave to special interests looking for loopholes.
The 2004 Medicare prescription bill became a cash cow for drug companies, but the provision in the House bill allowing Medicare to negotiate with drug companies will save $159 billion over 10 years, he said.
Had the Blue Dog Coalition not taken the position it did, the legislative process would have moved far more quickly, and the bill would have passed in August, he said.
Email GARY HARMON
Comments
By VOTE AGAINST SLEAZYCZAR
Nov 8, 2009 6:08 PM | Link to this
DEAR COMRADE SLEAZYCZAR
Please enlighten us to the specific constitutional authority that permits the federal government to force people to purchase ANYTHING? And then fine them when they don't. Didn't think you had the answer since there is not one, which subsequently makes you a traitor... in the full legal and constitutional meaning of that term. Oh and I'm sure you fully supported representative Coffman's amendment to force ALL federal slugs err employees, to join the public option.
By Bill
Nov 7, 2009 10:30 PM | Link to this
We all need to ban together and get this guy out of office. He is doing what he thinks is good for us rather than represent us! He can't decide whats best for rural CO, without talking to us first!
By didi
Nov 7, 2009 10:08 PM | Link to this
Hey By Educated
What about the 500 billion that is being cut to Medicare to pay for this piece of garbage that passed. Do you realize that Medicare is broke, Social Security is broke, the Post office is broke, the list goes on and on for every government run program. Medicare alone has 38 TRILLION in promised benefits that it has no money to pay for. So when you are ready to get your Medicare it might not be there. Also did you know that insurance companies rate number 35 in the profit list so they average 3-5% growth per year. My company would go under if we had that poor growth record. Did you know the bill has over 1/2 TRILLION in taxes which includes taxes on small business? Did you know that this bill will be a 5th of our economy? The list goes on. Did you know also the bill taxes medical devices makers so that cost will be passed on to you since they are exempt from taxes. .
The reason people are calling this Socialism is because the government has recently taken over car companies, banks, and now are healthcare and people don't want it!
By Sandy Gagne
Nov 7, 2009 9:54 PM | Link to this
I hope alot of people in Mesa County will understand now what a joke Salazar is. He is not only a liar when he says this bill will qualify Americans to get the same health-care that members of Congress gets, but the fact that he never ONCE, came to Grand Junction to talk and look his constituents in the face. His speech tonight at the vote tells me he is so interested in the "rural" aspects of Colorado, but this bill will not help them. He is a liar and a coward. I have been e-mailing him and phoning his office almost daily since the beginning of Aug. to no avail. I urge everyone in this state and country to start reading and learn how our rights are being taken away little by little. And to the the person who asked would I take away Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Yes, yes, yes. Those benefits have been so abused and is bankrupting this country as well. All of government needs a good overhaul. These people are corrupt and all they care about is their own personal gains and believe me they are all very wealthy from our tax dollars. Get your heads out of the sand. Start reading and doing research about what is really going on in our country. WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!!
By Too late
Nov 7, 2009 4:55 PM | Link to this
I don't need a t.v. commentator or a radio head to tell me what to believe. I have always been able to read and think for myself. However, I have been watching CSPAN today, and it is deplorable what Pelosi and her "Possi" are about to do to this country. Shame on her, and shame on John Salazar for following her down this universal/social health care yellow brick road. There's obviously no stopping them now.
By Educated...
Nov 7, 2009 4:40 PM | Link to this
Thank you Rep Salazar, and yes, we NEED the public option. For all those who call it "Obamacare", would you do away with Social Security? Would you do away with "Medicare"? These are federal programs that provide health care (and income) to millions. It is the insurance companies who have profited. Yet you "Uneducated",(uneducated = ignorant of the facts") continue to make things up, like this plan will kill babies, or, it is "socialism". The ignorance of the public has no boundry, please look up the House proposal and quote what you do not like about it. Really, read the proposed law, then quote it, and tell us what you do not like. Please stop puking up what "Rush Limbaugh" has to say, he is one of Americas all time "Hippocrates". Yuk!
By didi
Nov 7, 2009 4:33 PM | Link to this
This is horrible that he supports this 2000 page bill that he admits his staff has gone thru- did he? Can he explain to the elderly how this is going to affect them with the 500 billion in Medicare cuts? Can he explain that this will cost over 1 TRILLION dollars and we all know that the government never estimates correctly. Can he explain that Congress is not being forced into this plan.
Also this was written yesterday and this is what is the NEWS today. He is lying about abortion.
I can only hope he gets voted out in 2010.
Today news:
Obama made his trip to the Capitol complex as abortion rights lawmakers voiced anger at a last-minute concession granted to foes of the procedure, who were given a vote on their proposal for stronger restrictions on abortion coverage.
By Greg
Nov 7, 2009 1:58 PM | Link to this
Sorry O Trash, e-mails don't work. They just delete them. Calls or faxes are the way to go. The comments here are humorous. You people think you can change things. What was the disapproval for the banker bailout? 99%?
This is about control. If you think Salazar cares you are wrong. He is looking foward to being voted out. He will get a nice six figure pension from us and another six-figure wall street job.
Wake up.
By O Trash
Nov 7, 2009 1:13 PM | Link to this
"Done" is most definetly right! Venting here at the Daily Sentinel is good but all of you need to contact Salazar! It's very easy, go to his website, click contact, put in your zip code, fill out a few fields and then place your comment in the proper box and click submit!
Email him every day. Email him multiple times. If you feel like he's ignoring you, (which he is), email him again.
A group of us have been doing just that and I think that's why he did this interview with the Sentinel even though his statements left me still empty. You can tell in the story reported that he knows he's doing to wrong thing.
It only takes a second or two to contact these idiots! True Americans must stand up against all of these attempts at making this a communist nation! Email him!
DO IT!!
By Jeff
Nov 7, 2009 12:24 PM | Link to this
Salazar does not even respond to questions and comments about his approval of this bill. It is a joke. THINK before you blindly accept how the Democrats will pay for this. NONE of their numbers add up. What a joke we have for a congressman.
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