Q) Do you support a public healthcare option as part of healthcare reform?
Yes I do.
First of all, I think it’s important that people who are satisfied with the health plan they have know that they can keep that coverage.
We also need to have a public option that serves as a backstop—offering protection and coverage to many Americans who cannot get healthcare now—but what that plan will look like remains to be seen. It is important to remember that millions of people do not qualify for employee-based health programs and can’t afford to buy their own insurance. Uninsured Americans have almost no access to health care, except in emergency situations. This in turn raises the costs for all Americans.
But providing coverage is only part of the solution. Health care costs account for nearly 17 percent of GDP, which is unsustainable. The increasing cost is hurting not only our families, but also our businesses and governments. As we take steps to expand coverage, we must also work to bring down costs – or else we’re just going to keep spending a lot of money without addressing the underlying problem.
Q) If so, do you support a public healthcare option that is available on day one?
Again, the legislation coming out of these committees has yet to be seen. But I do believe that some sort of public option needs to be part of the proposal, along with a focus on bringing down health care costs and prevention.
Q) Do you support a public healthcare option that can bargain for rates from providers and big drug companies?
In offering insurance, yes, I do believe that a public option should negotiate for rates and drug prices, just as insurance companies do now. I have also been supportive of efforts to allow Medicare to negotiate better prescription drug prices. However, that is not enough to bring down the costs of the entire system for everyone. That is why health care reform must address all the different problems that raise costs and affect coverage, not just rely on one proposal to be a cure-all for the system.
With respect to prescription drugs, there are steps we can take now to lower prices. I have introduced the bi-partisan Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Act, which allows for the importation of prescription drugs produced in FDA approved plants in other countries. We pay more than any other country for drugs. People are being forced to choose between food or medicine and putting their health at risk. By allowing for the importation of FDA approved drugs and inserting some competition into the market, it will offer access to the same FDA-approved drugs sold at a fraction of the cost in other countries, and also force the drug companies to lower their prices in the long run.
Q) Do you support a public healthcare option that is national, available everywhere, and accountable to Congress?
This option should be available nation-wide in order to be the most effective. It should be subject to effective regulations like our existing programs.
Bam! It sounds like Senator Dorgan is unequivocally on board with the public option. (I figured his answers would roughly what they are, as I had seen Dorgan's interview on MyDD.com). I think that's great.
Dorgan is right. There needs to be strong, meaningful, aggressive and competitive negotiations with pharmaceutical companies over drug prices. That will never happen for so long as the doctors, hospitals, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies are all in bed together, and they all are now. We also need to break up non-competitive relationships between the insurance companies and providers. I think the public option can push us in that direction.
I haven't submitted the healthcare questions to Congressman Pomeroy yet. I suppose I should do that. (I see Congressman Pomeroy is voting against the "American Clean Energy and Security Act" today, though the word is it will likely pass even without his vote. I know it's not popular with King Coal and its people, but I think it's a good bill and wish Pomeroy would change his mind before the vote. My position on "cap and trade" can be summarized as follows: "If you care about anybody who has lung problems, or if you have children or plan to ever have children, you should want them to have clean air to breathe. We have some of the dirtiest air in America right here in Bismarck." I wish our political leaders all felt the same way.)
As you know, I submitted four questions to Senator Kent Conrad and to Senator Byron Dorgan relating to healthcare reform. I posted 
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