By Susan Redden
sredden@joplinglobe.com
Two Republican lawmakers from Missouri didn’t wait for President Barack Obama’s speech before assailing the Democratic health care plan that the president on Wednesday came to the state to support.
Before the president’s speech in St. Charles, U.S. Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond and U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt said in a telephone news conference from Washington that the measure now before Congress should be scrapped.
“The president thinks people don’t understand, and if he makes enough speeches, they’ll find out what a great thing it is,” said Blunt. “They do understand it; they don’t want it in the country, or in Missouri.”
Missouri’s other U.S. senator, Democrat Claire McCaskill, who accompanied Obama to the state, issued a statement praising the president’s efforts to help those who cannot get insurance and to make coverage more affordable.
“I don’t know whether health care reform will get done or not, but no one can quarrel with the president’s political courage in making the effort to have meaningful reform so that those people out there who don’t have insurance can get it, and those who have it are not priced out of the market,” she said.
Bond said the Democratic proposal, if enacted, would cut funding available for Medicare and would raise costs for private insurance coverage.
Bond and Blunt said the current plan is too costly and that Congress should start over, with a series of smaller steps to encourage competition among insurance carriers, to improve the portability of medical plans and to clamp down on medical malpractice lawsuits.
Legislation that would encourage competition across state lines “would go a long way,” Blunt said, in helping small businesses offer health insurance for their workers.
“People want two or three things improved, then to wait awhile and do two or three more,” Bond said. “They don’t want to take the greatest health care system in the world, throw it up in the air and see where it lands.”
The senator also praised the American health care system when he was asked why the U.S. is the only industrialized nation without some sort of national health care plan.
“Our quality is far superior, and Americans spent less time waiting for care,” he said.
Both Republicans acknowledged that many Americans have no health care coverage but said coverage via Medicare would be reduced under the president’s plan.
“And it would shift the Medicaid burden to states,” Bond said.
Blunt, who was a member of the House leadership when Republicans held the majority, said the GOP has passed some health reform measures and has tried to pass others.
“There are things we’ve tried to do, like association health plans and medical liability reform,” he said. “And we passed health savings accounts and the ‘welcome to Medicare’ physical.”
Blunt questioned the amount of savings through catching Medicare fraud that the administration says will be used to finance the program.
“If we can find it, we ought to be using it right now to save Medicare, which is going to be in trouble over the next two or three years,” he said.
Race shaping up
Kit Bond is retiring this year after 24 years in the Senate. Roy Blunt is considered the front-runner, among Republicans, seeking to replace him. His likely Democratic opponent is Robin Carnahan, now secretary of state.
Local News
<img src="http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/extra.gif" border=0>Blunt, Bond criticize Obama’s health plan<font color="#ff0000"> w/ Obama health plan</font>
- Local News
-
-
Water company cites reconnections
The May 22 tornado has caused a dramatic drop in water usage for the Missouri American Water Co., but things are starting to turn around — one reconnection at a time.
-
Survivor of ’78 Connor collapse dead at age 64
A big story in the history of Joplin was the 1978 collapse of the Connor Hotel at Fourth and Main streets. Alfred Summers, the man at the heart of that story, died at 6:41 a.m. Friday at St. John’s Mercy Hospital in Joplin after an illness. He was 64.
-
County asks for dismissal of sheriff’s suit
The Jasper County Commission is the final authority in budget allocations, including those from the county’s Law Enforcement Sales Tax fund, county lawyers have argued in a motion recently filed in Jasper County Circuit Court.
-
Winter weather back in forecast
The arctic front that passed over Missouri on Friday will bring cold temperatures to the region tonight.
-
Weather service upgrading radar at Springfield station
The National Weather Service radar station at Springfield will be out of service for about two weeks to permit the installation of dual-polarization technology.
-
MSSU, PSU to conduct financial-aid events
Missouri Southern State University in Joplin and Pittsburg (Kan.) State University each will conduct events Sunday to help high school seniors with completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
-
Authorities term deaths of teens murder-suicide
Authorities say a teenage woman apparently shot her estranged boyfriend several times before turning the gun on herself and taking her own life.
-
Mike Pound: One man in America wants his robo call
I like to think I have pretty thick skin. If I didn’t, all the emails I get with the subject lines that read “Hey moron” would bother me. But they don’t, so I do.
-
Proposed Kan. abortion ban blocked by abortion foe
An influential anti-abortion legislator is blocking the push for a ban on abortion in the Kansas Constitution, highlighting a split among abortion opponents over tactics and frustrating the group advocating the “personhood” proposal Friday.
-
Kansas House GOP issues tax plan
House Republican leaders are proposing a plan to cut Kansas income taxes, removing one key objection to an earlier proposal from Gov. Sam Brownback.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Obama Scraps Birth Control Mandate
US Airmen's Killer Sentenced to Life in Germany
Navy Names Ship for Gabrielle Giffords
Raw Video: Deadly Blasts in Syria
Romney Slams President Obama at CPAC
Gingrich: Pres. Obama 'waging War on Religion'
5 Killed in Wrong-way Crash on I-10 in La.
Uzbek Man Pleads Guilty in Plot to Kill Obama
Denver's Largest-Ever Drug Bust Nets Dozens
Marines: No Punishment for Nazi-like Flag
Vets Look to Translate Military Skills Into Jobs
Raw Video: School Bus Burst Into Flames
LA School Reopens Amid Sex Abuse Scandal
$25B Settlement Reached Over Foreclosure Abuses
Pentagon: Allow Women Closer to Front Lines
LA School in Sex Abuse Scandal Reopens
Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life
Greeks March; Angry Despite Debt Deal
Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service
Ga Girl Fights Off Kidnapper at Walmart
