Pushing public option
Activists in health reform debate jockey for attentionBy JILL SCHRAMM, Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com
Article Photos
Theresa Mogard of Granville is willing to dress in a Statue of Liberty costume and carry signs on a frigid street corner to advocate for a public option to compete with private health insurance.
Her voice also featured in a radio advertisement for MoveOn.org Political Action is one of many clamoring for attention in the debate over health-care reform. The reason for all the noise is that odds are good that some type of change will happen, and no one will be left unaffected.
"We are speaking out because we are closer than we have ever been to real health-care reform," Mogard said.
North Dakota has been a key state in the reform debate because of the presence of Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D, on the Senate Finance Committee, one of the committees drafting a health-care bill. Outside interests have spent money on advertising in North Dakota to try to get residents to contact their senators.
Conrad, who doesn't favor a public option in federal legislation, has referred to MoveOn as an out-of-state interest, which gets up the dander of Mogard and the more than 5,000 MoveOn members in North Dakota.
"This is not an outside interest coming in and doing all of this," said Mogard, who has frequented Conrad's public forums in the state over the summer and has participated in two demonstrations outside Conrad's office in the Federal Building in Minot.
"We are trying to influence Senator Conrad to do the right thing and to support the public option," she said.
While Mogard and her MoveOn organization attempt to sway Conrad one way, other groups are attempting to sway him another way.
The North Dakota Taxpayers Association has coordinated letter-writing campaigns to the state's U.S. senators to argue against government involvement in health insurance.
"Our side has really taken a more restrained approach to it than the other side," said Dustin Gawrylow, executive director of the association in Bismarck. "It's been grassroots. We have a few people that have taken a lead on shepherding other folks in getting their message through. The advantage that we have, while we don't have the kind of financial resources that the other side has, the people that consider themselves members and activists are far more willing to put in the time. I have people who are willing to do the actual work as far as making the calls, writing the letters, getting other people to do the same. I think that's far more effective than throwing money at it."
Gawrylow added that opponents of government health insurance aren't having to work as hard because Conrad is in sync with them.
"He's kind of shown that he's not going to be bullied on this one," he said.
The North Dakota Policy Council has brought national health-care experts to town hall meetings in Bismarck and Fargo to explain why a government-run plan isn't a good idea. More meetings likely will be held, although none are scheduled yet, said Brett Narloch, executive director in Bismarck.
The council has received assistance from Conservatives for Patients' Rights, a national group. Because the council is a nonprofit organization, it cannot lobby on legislation but it can take a position.
"We can say what we are for and what we are against, and definitely, what we are against is government involvement in health care," Narloch said.
Conservatives for Patients' Rights in Washington, D.C., has a $1.4 million ad campaign on health care that is running nationally. At the end of June, the organization augmented that campaign with advertising targeting 14 key senators in 11 states, including North Dakota.
Brian Burgess, spokesman for Conservatives for Patients' Rights, said the money spent in North Dakota in advertising and the Fargo meeting was a minimal portion of the group's national spending.
The North Dakota Chamber of Commerce has not gotten involved, although Dave MacIver, executive director, said the group supports the message in advertising by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
"We have a position on it that there's a need for some form of reform, but we don't believe that includes the public option. We believe that the free enterprise system should be driving this toward reform," he said.
In support of a public option, Health Care for America Now, a coalition of labor and liberal advocacy groups, aired a television ad for nine days in July. The ads were part of a larger $800,000 campaign in nine states. That campaign was just one of several that the organization has conducted on the health-care issue.
Justin Ruben, executive director for MoveOn, whose office is in New York state, said the organization has put significant resources into North Dakota. MoveOn ran a radio advertisement in North Dakota and two other states after the Senate Finance Committee on Sept. 29 killed two public-option amendments. This past week, MoveOn sent a mailing to 12,000 North Dakota addresses this past week and supported rallies in three cities and a second radio campaign.
"It's really being driven by the courage and determination of the North Dakota MoveOn members," Ruben said. "They were doing so much that we made the decision to put more resources into the fight in North Dakota."
Tammi Barber, a MoveOn member from Minot, came to Wednesday's rally to voice her dissatisfaction with Conrad's opposition to a public plan. She and her husband, both disabled, are close to filing bankruptcy for a second time because of medical bills.
"Politicians all have really good insurance. I believe the people need someone to stand up for them, too," she said.
Conrad has said that the public option as proposed isn't acceptable because it is tied to Medicare levels of reimbursement.
"Every major hospital administrator in our state has told me that if you tie the public option to Medicare levels of reimbursement, every hospital goes broke," Conrad said in a written response to MoveOn Oct. 1. "Additionally, the public option has become one of the most divisive issues in health reform. And whatever its virtues, the public option simply cannot get the 60 votes needed to pass the Senate. It's inclusion could doom the larger health reform effort and undermine everything we've been working for."
Conrad's campaign committee, Friends of Kent Conrad, also responded with advertising that aired Oct. 6 to 16.
Mogard said Conrad's arguments are unfounded.
"If anything he's helping to make the division bigger. The votes are there. He has an opportunity to be a leader, but he's not," she said. "There's quite a bit of outrage over the fact that Blue Cross and Blue Shield just got fined heavily by the Insurance Commission, and Senator Conrad is taking money from them."
At a rally Wednesday, MoveOn members called on Conrad to return more than $1 million in contributions received from the insurance industry and health maintenance organizations in the past 20 years.
Conrad called MoveOn's charges a "campaign of false accusations."
"Their assertion that I vote a certain way on legislation because of campaign contributions is completely untrue. Their claim that I've received more than $1 million in campaign contributions from the health insurance industry is completely false. I've received a fraction of that from health insurance companies," he said in a prepared statement. "They have incorrectly combined the life insurance industry with health insurance, two completely different industries. They ought to get their facts straight."
Figures from the Center for Responsive Politics show Conrad received $1.36 million from the health-care sector, of which $1.1 million came from political action committees, between 1989 and August 2009. A more specific breakdown of total contributions showed he received only $190,715 from health services and health maintenance organizations. He received $279,766 from hospitals and nursing homes and $626,932 from health-care professionals. The report broadly credited "insurance industry" with contributions of $838,787.
MoveOn is not the only group seeking to sway Conrad. NDPeople.org. has formed a statewide coalition of groups calling for health-care reform.
Don Morrison, executive director of NDPeople.org, Bismarck, said there's general agreement among coalition members that a public plan could help by providing competition and a choice.
"Without a public option, we will probably be talking about this in eight to 10 years all over again," he said.
NDPeople.org held a telephone press conference Oct. 15 with Wendell Potter, former vice president for corporate communications at CIGNA insurance, who said the current health-care system can't be sustained. He said the nation needs a competing government-run plan that can establish new rules in a marketplace now driven by Wall Street.
NDPeople.org also conducted a rally in Fargo in August, circulated petitions, urged letter-writing campaigns and criticized Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota for its opposition to a public-run plan.
Blue Cross Blue Shield plans to make a public statement on health reform once the Senate committee produces a final health bill, said spokeswoman Denise Kolpack. However, the Blues' general position paper states that a government-run health plan would unravel the existing business-based system and hinder delivery system reforms critical to controlling costs. The insurer opposes a government-run plan that uses Medicare rates for reimbursement.
Proponents of a public option argue that while the Medicare reimbursements are too low, hospitals also would eliminate $37.5 million in losses incurred when patients cannot pay. Potter added that more recent congressional plans including a public option have moved away from using Medicare reimbursement rates.
Some NDPeople.org coalition members have been sponsoring their own activities to call attention to the national health-care debate. In an event organized by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in Fargo, nurses went door to door to talk to people in support of the public option.
About 20 nurses and supporters participated, said Alexandra Townsend with the group.
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Stacman
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10-16-09 9:49 PM
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Theresa probably wouldn't have to worry about health care if she was working on a Wednesday, much like most adults in North Dakota. Zero-liability voters are really annoying to those that actually contribute, albeit forcibly.
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kirkwood
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10-16-09 8:29 PM
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Lady I work for the St. Louis VA for 5 + yrs and 29 yrs for Social Security Disability in Missouri & am former Minot/Fargo resident...I'm a physician w roots in ND..I can tell you 1st hand govt medicine is horribly burcrat and inefficient...work HARD to stop this monstrosity...you and YOUR CHILDREN/GRANKIDS WILL SUFFER IMMENSELY..you are obviously passionate..nonetheless UNINFORMED..read Lucianne**** for updates...Mike O'Day
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Stacman
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10-16-09 7:57 PM
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Good one Matt, did you steal that line from Nancy Peloser?
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MattRothchild
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10-16-09 10:12 AM
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Astroturf
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abraun8030
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10-16-09 9:26 AM
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need insurance? get a job....i'm sure one of the liberty tax offices in town would hire you.
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Stacman
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10-16-09 8:23 AM
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If Mogard wasn't a member of the Soros-funded MoveOn, people might take her more seriously. Would you take someone seriously if they put on their Halloween costume before talking to you?
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OldDog
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10-16-09 7:33 AM
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Theresa Mogard if you really want Govt health care why don't you just pack your bags and move 100 miles north of Granville? Its called Canada and for just $89 a month you can go to the Dr whenever HE HAS time to see you! Just think its only a hop skip and a jump from Grandville and you can come home for the holidays ect.. All your medical woes will be gone.. If the Public Option is so good how come the 47 million without insurance have not given up their US Citizenship and moved north of the border????
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OldDog
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10-16-09 6:47 AM
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Its interesting when you look at the age of these people in the photo. They just have never been educated enough about what its like to live under communist rule. The federal Government is trying to take control of all the things that effect life..ie Labor Unions, Education, Banking, Transportation and now you folks want them to control your health.. I know our education system is broken and these folks in favor of Government Health Care are living proof the schools don't teach enough about Govt Takeovers..
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