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February 26, 2010

Camp, Stupak toe party lines on health care

BY SHERI McWHIRTER

TRAVERSE CITY -- Two U.S. representatives from northern Michigan sit on opposite sides of the aisle in Washington and likewise disagree on national health care reforms.

U.S. Reps. Dave Camp, R-Midland, and Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, toed their parties' lines on Thursday as President Barack Obama's health care summit unfolded live on national television, often in confrontational fashion.

Camp, the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, participated in the summit; Stupak did not.

Camp characterizes reforms proposed by Democrats as a "government takeover" of health care that will increase health insurance costs, explode the deficit and slash Medicare benefits. He wanted Obama to drop his proposal and start fresh, particularly requirements for all citizens to buy health insurance.

"The American people have told us they don't want to be forced to buy health insurance that they don't want and they can't afford. This is a significant issue across the country. The American people are telling us that the mandates, the requirements to buy insurance are something they want us to scrap and start over on," Camp told Obama during the summit.

Camp contends Americans want less government involvement than what Democrats propose and they don't want to pay higher taxes to cover costs.

"A lot of Americans say to me if you're really interested in controlling costs, maybe you shouldn't be spending a trillion dollars on health care as the Senate and House bills do," Camp told the summit participants.

Stupak said he's glad Obama held the health care summit. He said it was a chance for compromise between the parties, or would serve as a national platform to show how Republicans simply want to obstruct Democrats' health care overhaul goals.

Democrats may have to push through health care reforms without bipartisan support, Stupak said.

"I always figured we'd have to go it alone, anyway," he said.

Stupak acknowledged Democrats may need to compromise on allowing insurance companies to sell policies across state lines, but Republicans must agree to adopt a system to provide access to affordable health insurance to all Americans, he said.

Stupak ultimately favors a public option, a uniform insurance policy applicable to everyone and safe from mammoth annual increases in premium costs. The House's move to repeal a long-standing antitrust exemption for insurance companies is a positive step, he said.

"You have to bring some good competition. It's an alternative to being robbed," Stupak said.

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