(CNSNews.com) - President Barack Obama has announced that he would like to create a government-run health insurance company to compete with private health insurance companies. When asked if they support this idea, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) called it, i.e., “government-run,” a “buzz word,” and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) called it “political talk.”
Harkin added that while he does not support a “government-run” plan, he would like to see “some kind of public option plan” created.
When asked if he supported President Obama’s government-run health care proposal, Dodd told CNSNews.com: “No, no, no, no, we’re not going to – this and that, those are all the languages that people have – those are buzz words. We’re talking about an alternative program here, a non-profit, and the various other ideas that have been discussed.”
“The point here is, how are we going to drive down costs, make it accessible and affordable to people? That’s the goal,” said Dodd.
He added that that he has no patience for the criticism or nay-saying on health care reform.
“If people have better ideas on how they can do that, I’d like to listen to them,” Dodd told CNSNews.com. “But too often what I am hearing is they’re just being against everything. Being against everything, being for the status quo is unacceptable to an overwhelming majority of Americans.”
“They want change,” said Dodd. “This is a crisis. When you can’t get health care coverage or the coverage you have doesn’t cover or provide you with the protection you deserve to have, it is a crisis for that family -- and they expect us to answer that in a way that will drive down costs, increase quality, and expand accessibility, and I’m determined to do that.”
Dodd is taking over for the ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, in pushing Kennedy’s Affordable Health Care Choices Act through the Senate. The bill is currently in draft legislation so it is still unclear how the plan would provide health care for the millions of Americans who are uninsured.
Sen. Harkin dismissed the fact that President Obama’s “public option” health care proposal is a government-run plan.
“Oh, I hear a lot of that – that’s sort of political talk,” Harkin told CNSNews.com. “That’s just politics.”
When asked if he supports a government-owned health insurance company, Harkin said: “No, but I do support some kind of a public option plan that will cover everybody and that will be a plan that everybody could get. It would be fully portable – no discrimination based on anything. I do support that concept.”