Ross defends health-care stance

— U.S. Rep. Mike Ross worked Monday to dispel the idea that his opposition to a "public option" in the health-care system overhaul being considered in Congress has been unduly influenced by insurance companies.

Ross was speaking at a Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce breakfast to an audience that expressed its own reservations about more government involvement in health care.

The event was co-sponsored by Delta Dental, an insurer. Ross said he accepted the invitation to hear business owners' thoughts on a health overhaul and didn't know who was sponsoring the event.

Ross, the 4th District Democrat, has come under criticism from the more-liberal wing of the Democratic party because of his opposition to an optional government-run medical program in legislation being considered in Congress.

"I cannot support a public option, because I came home, I listened to the people, and I can tell you people made it clear to me they don't want the government in the health-insurance business," Ross said.

One liberal Web site, firedoglake.com, says it has raised more than $50,000 of its goal of $78,000 through its political action committee to air a TV ad telling Ross and Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., to "act like Democrats" and support a public option.

Ross said he fought so that any public option would not be based on the Medicare payment system.

"Many of our rural hospitals are barely hanging on," Ross said. "You give them more patients based on Medicare payments, and it would close many of our rural hospitals."

"The Left's beaten me up on that," Ross said. " They've said I'm owned by the health insurance industry. And by the way, for the record, I've never taken a dime from drug manufacturers in my nine years of Congress for my campaign. And less than one half of 1 percent of my donations have come from health insurance companies. And less than 8 percent of contributions have come from the health industry in general."

Including his first election in November 2000, Ross has accepted about $38,000 from the health-insurance industry, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research group.

An e-mail from the Ross campaign committee said he has "only accepted $4,500 from Blue Cross Blue Shield" since he started running for Congress in 1999.

In all, Ross has received about $992,000 in contributions from health-related sectors, according to the center. That includes health professionals, who have contributed $666,298; $47,900 from hospitals and $102,250 from nursing homes. The figures include any contributions to Ross' campaign committees or leadership political action committees.

Ross noted that he has received a great deal of attention in the current debate because as chairman of the health-care task force of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of self-described fiscally conservative Democrats, he had enough votes to slow health legislation down.

"Without the 52 of us, the Democrats would not be in the majority," he said.

Some audience members asked how covering more than 500,000 uninsured Arkansans alone would be paid for.

"We're paying for them now," Ross said. The first $1,500 that insured people pay for premiums goes to covering the uninsured, he said. Additionally, hospitals incur expenses when they write off care for the uninsured, he said.

Audience members also said they were concerned about adding millions of Americans when Medicare and other programs, they said, are rife with waste and inefficiency.

Stephen Finnegan, 45, president of Finnegan & Associates Inc. in Little Rock, a consulting and grant procurement firm, said it will take 12-18 months to process a pension-related claim he has filed with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Finnegan, who is retired from the Army, said he was worried about what such inefficiency would mean writ large, if the government had a bigger hand in health care.

Ross said he doesn't expect a final bill to result in health care rationing or the government getting "in the health insurance business."

"What we're trying to do is eliminate the rationing going on right now," Ross said. "If you don't believe your care is being rationed today, ask a doctor or ask a pharmacist. [Insurance companies are] constantly changing the drug you're on or constantly either wanting prior approval or trying to get them to do this test instead of that test."

Ross listed three goals for overhauling the health-care system: providing coverage to the uninsured, eliminating exclusions for pre-existing conditions, and containing costs.

Ways to control costs and inefficiencies, he said, include altering medical malpractice litigation so doctors don't practice defensive medicine, supporting chronic-disease management programs, and utilizing information technology to end duplication of services and medical errors in the system.

"I still don't think we're doing enough yet, but we've got nine legislative votes until we've got a final bill ... to squeeze inefficiencies out of the system," Ross said.

Business, Pages 19, 20 on 09/22/2009

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