HCAN

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Of course this isn't news to anyone at BlueNC, but lately Senator Kay Hagan has come to the center of the debate regarding the central tenant of the Obama health care plan--a public health insurance option to compete with private plans helping drive down costs and giving consumers more choices. For several weeks now, progressives and conservatives alike have been flooding her office urging her to either support or oppose the public plan. Recently, the North Carolina Coalition for Health Care for America Now (NC HCAN) brought over 150 citizens to Washington for a town-hall style meeting in order to lobby Senator Hagan on the issue. An excellent discussion of the meeting and a smaller correspondence between Hagan and several Durham constituents was posted on Daily Kos by TriangleNC. If you haven't read it yet, check it out.

How in the world did the freshman senator from North Carolina wind up as the key figure in the health care debate? How can one lone moderate Democrat on a committee of liberal Democrats sink the public option?

Fact is, Kay Hagan alone won’t sink the public option. Kay Hagan alone won’t water down the public option. Somebody floated that idea and like a bunch of Pavlov’s dogs we jumped on it.

Let’s take a look at the reality of the situation so we can better understand what’s going on. It may help us lobby our senator more effectively.

First, let me make it clear we need to continue flooding the good senator’s office with phone calls and emails. We are her most important lobbyists. The pay might stink, but if we work hard enough the benefits alone will be worth the effort.

Health Care for America Now (HCAN) is running ads in North Carolina and several other states. Obviously the target in North Carolina is Senator Kay Hagan. BlueNCers have been busy calling and emailing the Senator so she will know how we feel. Hopefully the ads will inspire more to call Kay.

You can email Kay here and you can call her if you want to speak to a live person. (202-224-6342) I have a feeling her staff members are a bit frustrated at this point. When you call or email, please be polite. Being an ass honestly doesn't get you anywhere.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina controls 53% of our state health insurance market. Together with United Health Group, our state's #2 insurer, these two companies control 73% of the market. With this kind of "competition," is it any wonder our insurance premiums have risen 75% in the last ten years, 5.3 times faster than our wages, squeezing families and small business alike? There is a severe lack of competition in North Carolina when it comes to health insurance, which mirrors the picture nationally, according to a new report released today by Health Care for America Now: