Senator Blanche Lincoln (Arkansas) joined a Republican coalition to defeat public option amendments offered in the Senate Finance Committee. Having long been considered by the main media as a fence-sitter on offering a public option to Americans suffering under the current health care system, she finally showed her colors on the issue, and the color is green.

A few weeks ago the Huffington Post reported that Senator Lincoln was the top recipient of campaign contributions from the health care industry this year among senators. Blue Cross Blue Shield, the dominant health care insurer in Arkansas, is among her top contributors.

Responses posted on the Green Party Watch website are indicative of why Lincoln may lost her Senate race in 2010. Susan wrote, "That almost makes me want to move to Arkansas to vote against Blanche Lincoln. What a sellout to the insurance industry." Dave said, "Wow, if I lived in Arkansas I’d totally start a ‘move to Arkansas to vote against Blanche Lincoln’ campaign. And Lynn said, "I AM from Arkansas and WON’T be voting for her next election."

In February of 2009 Michael D. Tanner, a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, testified before the Arkansas House Insurance and Commerce Committee. He said, "I understand the frustration that Arkansans feel with the problems facing our health care system. In particular, Arkansans are worried about cost and access. Simply put, health care and health insurance cost too much, and too many people, including roughly 486,000 Arkansans, 17 percent of your state’s population, lack health insurance. And the two problems are deeply entwined; cost is the number one reason why people go without health insurance."

Tanner also stated, "…the average cost of a family insurance plan in Arkansas tops $9,900…" According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2001, Arkansas had a per capita personal income (PCPI) of $22,750 which ranked 50th in the United States (including the District of Columbia) and was 75% of the national average, $30,413. According to data released by the US Census Bureau, in 2000, the median household income was $30,293 compared to the national average of $42,148. In 2001, the median income for a family of four was $47,838 compared to the national average of $63,278. For the period 1999 to 2001, the average poverty rate was 16.3% which placed it 48th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia ranked lowest to highest.

With a median income of $30,293, is there any question why Arkansans cannot afford the average cost of a family health insurance plan of $9,900? That’s at the median level. What about the 49+% of Arkansans whose income is below the median.

At a time when Arkansas needs a Senator to stand up for them, Blanche Lincoln chose to support her contributors rather than her constituents.

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Sen. Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas Republican?!

Blanche Lincoln Rakes in Health Care Dollars – Huffington Post 09/04/2009 – The senior Arkansas senator is also the top recipient of campaign contributions from the health industry among senators this year. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Lincoln has received $325,350 in contributions from the health industry, as of June 30. The large amount in contributions underlies a constantly shifting position by the senator on health care reform.

Monopoly Money: "Our good friend Senator Blanche Lincoln thinks it’s very dangerous for the insurance companies to have to compete with a public plan option: ‘One of our biggest concerns is that it doesn’t need to be a government plan that usurps that ability to compete in the marketplace, which I’m concerned that a totally government-run option would do,’ she said."

For more information about her political contributions, you can visit the Federal Election Commission Blanche Lincoln Page.

Previously, Arkansas Republicrat Senator Blanche Lincoln said, "We want to keep what works in the private industry and make it better." That was a conference call on June 18, 2009. Lincoln is a member of the Senate Finance Committee chaired by Senator Max Baucus (see article Single Payer Health Insurance for America).

Uncle Brice is pleased to have been joined in exposing Lincoln by the likes of John Amato of Crooks and Liars and Greg Sargent of the Washington Post Plum Line. The Blue America PAC has also weighed in on Arkansas’ bought-and-paid-for senior Senator.

Back in June Lincoln said, "One of our biggest concerns is that it doesn’t need to be a government plan that usurps that ability to compete in the marketplace, which I’m concerned that a totally government-run option would do."

Here comes that ol’ saying: what a difference a few days make. Okay, so that ain’t really what the old saying is. I had to change it a bit because it took Senator Lincoln a little bit longer than a day to figure out she should say something else. And while I ain’t especially happy with what she said, it is a move toward saying what people want to hear, "Health care reform must build upon what works and improve inefficiencies. Individuals should be able to choose from a range of quality health insurance plans. Options should include private plans as well as a quality, affordable public plan or non-profit plan that can accomplish the same goals as those of a public plan."

Blue America PAC Videos for Blanche Lincoln

More About Senator Blanche Lincoln

Sen. Blanche Lincoln Co-sponsors SHOP

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas Republican?!

Sen. Blanche Lincoln Opposes Public Option

Monopoly Money: "Our good friend Senator Blanche Lincoln thinks it’s very dangerous for the insurance companies to have to compete with a public plan option: ‘One of our biggest concerns is that it doesn’t need to be a government plan that usurps that ability to compete in the marketplace, which I’m concerned that a totally government-run option would do,’ she said."

For more information about her political contributions, you can visit the Federal Election Commission Blanche Lincoln Page.

The Chicken Littles (whose campaigns are heavily funded by the insurance industry) are running around shouting, "Our sky is falling, our sky is falling." Of course, they’re really talking about the possibility of losing all those campaign contributions. That’s one sky that should fall.

This whole scenario reminded me of the movie, Dave, in which a regular citizen is recruited to impersonate the president during a time of crisis but actually turns the tables on his lobby-financed handlers and sets out to actually make changes to the federal budget. After identifying an appropriation in the Department of Commerce spending millions of dollars to make people feel good about cars they purchase, he asks a simple question.

‘Do you want to tell these homeless children we’re closing their shelter so people can feel good about cars they have already purchased?’ Hey Congress – get a clue. We ordinary American citizens make decisions like this everyday. I read an article recently about a lady who had made a discovery about her childhood. When she was a child she thought her father was a weird individual because he ate mustard sandwiches (or somthing similar) every night for dinner. It was only after she grew up that she learned about the tough financial times her family experienced. Her father ate mustard sandwiches every night so she and her siblings could eat meat and vegetables. These are the caring, unselfish decisions that Americans make – every day!

Congress, are you willing to tell millions of Americans they cannot have health insurance because:

• Oregon Senators Democrat Ron Wyden and Republican Gordon Smith asked for $2 million so manufacturers of certain wooden arrows designed for use by children would get an exception from an excise tax, or
• New York Rep. Charles Rangel, Democrat, needed $1.9 million for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York, or
• $192 million was given to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the form of rebates against excise taxes charged on rum imported from those two territories, or
• Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Rep. Thomas Allen, a Democrat, lined up $188,000 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to launch the Lobster Health Coalition at the institute, whose other accomplishments include developing a live Internet Lobster Cam and devising lobster treats for dogs called Bisque-its, or
• Republican Rep. Virgil Goode needing $98,000 to develop a historic walking tour of the tiny Virginia town of Boydton. The town is not even one square mile in size, and the $98,000 came to $200 per resident, or
• California Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon needing $50,000 to establish a museum honoring mules because mules were an integral part of the development of this country, or
• U.S. Representative Republican Denny Rehberg needing $583,000 for the Montana World Trade Center
• Four senators and two representatives from Washington and Oregon needed $400,000 for the Northwest Hops Research program, allowing experts to investigate critical issues in the beer industry, or
• Gone but not forgotten GOP Senator Bridge-to-Nowhere Ted Stevens, before being voted out of office, needed $150,000 improve rodent control on the Aleutian Islands. After all, the rats can see Russia from their houses.

These politicians are certainly not alone in saying to America, "We have a few things more important than health care for all Americans." Shame on them. (continued below)

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"This is precisely why we need a public option," Representative John Dingell (D-MI) said on Tuesday, June 16 at a Congressional hearing with top insurance executives about the health insurance company practice of cancelling policies retroactively to avoid paying claims.

The insurance executives were: Richard A. Collins, chief executive of UnitedHealth’s Golden Rule Insurance Co.; Brian Sassi, president of consumer business for WellPoint Inc., parent of Blue Cross of California; and Don Hamm, chief executive of Assurant Health.

Dingell, however, falls short of pushing for the single payer health insurance program favored by a majority of Americans. In a statement released June 24 Dingell said, "This discussion draft is NOT an attempt to create a single payer system nor is it a first step towards a single payer system."

On June 16, Representatives Bart Stupak (D- MI) and Joe Barton (R-TX) pressed the health insurance officials for more information about cancellation procedures.

Representative Barton said, "I think a company does have a right to make sure there’s no fraudulent information. But if a citizen acts in good faith, we should expect the insurance company that takes their money to act in good faith also."

Stupak, the committee chairman, said, "When times are good, the insurance company is happy to sign you up and take your money in the form of premiums. But when times are bad … some insurance companies use a technicality to justify breaking its promise, at a time when most patients are too weak to fight back."

The Los Angeles Times reported, "An investigation by the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations showed that health insurers WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group and Assurant Inc. canceled the coverage of more than 20,000 people, allowing the companies to avoid paying more than $300 million in medical claims over a five-year period."

A few American citizens who were victims of retroactive cancellation presented the following facts. A lady from Texas lost her health insurance coverage after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The reason for cancellation was that she had failed to disclose a visit to a dermatologist for acne. Another lady was cancelled for failing to report that she had once taken weight-loss medication and had irregular menstruation.

The executives found themselves on the defensive with a very, very weak defense.

(Continued below)

Would you offer coverage to people to have preexisting conditions?

Health Insurance Employees Rewarded for Cancellations

The committee discovered employee performance documents that showed Blue Cross employees were rewarded for cancelling health insurance policies. One employee received a perfect 5 indicating exceptional performance for cancelling thousands of policies and saving the company over $10,000,000 in claim payments. Unfortunately, this is not new.

In 2007, HealthNet was fined $9,000,000 for such practices. At the time, it was discovered that HealthNet had avoided paying $35,000,000 in claims by retroactively cancelling health insurance policies. At the time, Blue Cross stated they did not tie employee performance to policy recission, a fact turned on its ear with the 2003 employee evaluations that showed Blue Cross had lied.

This is the system Congress thinks it can fix with a bandaid approach? No, this is the system that demands a government sponsored single payer health insurance option is the only option to true health insurance reform.

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Single payer health insurance is being ignored – or not even considered- by many in Congress who show little respect for the wishes of the American people.

More and more people everyday are facing life without health insurance due to costs and job loss. Some are keeping their jobs but taking pay cuts. How can you make health care more affordable for millions of Americans without money to pay for it? There must be a single payer public option health care program and it must be supported by taxes.

Senator Claire McCaskill says there will be no public option.

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