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N.C. Senators on health care

Sens. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, and Kay Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, have been making the rounds during Congress’ August recess. And pretty much anywhere they go, the senators are talking health care.

It’s interesting to listen to these two talk and read the various stories written around the state. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like folks are speaking the same language.

Take this Associate Press story from Thursday (click here) that says Hagan and Burr might find common ground on coops.

Sen. Sen. Kay Hagan said today she is willing to consider health care co-ops as an alternative to a government-backed public option, signaling that she's receptive to some of the same compromises as her GOP counterpart.

Hagan said in an interview with The Associated Press that she continues to support a plan to provide a government alternative to private insurance. But the freshman Democrat said a co-op may also have benefits, noting that it could be more agile if offered on a state or regional level.

"The states can respond quicker to citizens versus, in many cases, the federal government," Hagan said. "So I would be open to looking at a co-op plan."

But what sounds like promising common ground shifts a little bit when you ask Burr about coops. From a story I’m writing for this weekend:

Burr said he, too, thought coops were an option, but only if federal and state governments don’t have much to do with running them.

“If the government is going to be in charge of it, and the government’s going to run it and the government’s going to decide the scope of benefits...then I’m not interested in going there,” Burr said.

Rather, Burr said, the federal government needs to create incentives for nonprofits and others to create coops by removing obstacles to their creation in place today.

With such differences cropping up a lot, I thought it might be useful to give a listen to some uncut audio. First up, I recorded this with Hagan when she spoke to reporters down at SAS in Cary.

Meanwhile, this next piece of audio is Burr speaking after he talked to the N.C. Medical Society today.

The Legion of Dome has written some more about Burr’s comments here.

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Tags: Kay Hagan, audio, health care, Richard Burr

Posted by Mark Binker on Friday, August 28, 2009 at 3:05 pm

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Doug Johnson

August 28, 2009 - 6:17 pm EDT

Both of them should remember (WE THE PEOPLE) and most of us want a plan, that"s a health plan.
Since I have read much of this POS.
If that' s the best we can do, forget it!
Of course if the media would belly up to the bar, the 54% of voters who do not want this, it would become 94%.
This could be written on one sheet of paper, not 1016.

JEngdahlJ

August 28, 2009 - 10:09 pm EDT

Rules Matter with Co-ops!

So much depends on the rules established to govern a co-op and how they compare to the rules governing other members of the healthcare system. More insights: http://www.healthcaretownhall.com/?p=1288