I just received a 'thank you for contacting me' reply from Diane Feinstein which is boggling my brain. She wrote:
Reducing healthcare costs is absolutely essential. Between 2000 and 2007, combined profits for 10 of the country's largest publically traded insurance companies rose 428 percent. I am concerned about the astronomical growth of entitlement spending,
This is nonsequitor. So I called her office. I got, "Senator Feinstein is in favor of the Non Profit Model, or the Public Option, or a Co-op option. I know that I have heard economist talking heads say that co-ops won't force health care prices down. Commenters, can you help me with the exact references?
And, of course, Senator Feinstein needs to hear from her constituents. Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3841
Fax: (202) 228-3954
TTY/TDD: (202) 224-2501
The full letter follows:
Dear Ms. :
Thank you for contacting me to express your opposition to a public healthcare option in healthcare reform legislation. I am pleased that you took the time to write to me on an important issue facing our country, and I welcome this opportunity to explain my views.
I support reforming our healthcare system. The key is to find a healthcare plan that provides coverage, as well as limits cost. My colleagues in the Senate and I have been working on this, but it is a difficult issue and must be carefully thought out. I hope that the Senate Finance Committee will propose a bill which will lay out a way in which we can accomplish these goals and can be effectively merged with the bill passed by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Other health reforms are also necessary. I strongly believe that any healthcare reform legislation should prohibit coverage denial based on preexisting conditions. Reducing healthcare costs is absolutely essential. Between 2000 and 2007, combined profits for 10 of the country's largest publically traded insurance companies rose 428 percent. I am concerned about the astronomical growth of entitlement spending, which makes up 56 percent of all federal dollars spent in 2009. Health reform must bend the healthcare cost curve, slowing the growth of entitlements in order to reduce our nation's debt and budget deficit.
Any Senate health reform bill must improve California's complex health care system, and please know that I am working hard with my colleagues to make health care affordable for all Americans, without adding to the federal deficit.
Again, thank you for writing. If you have any further questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841. Best regards.
Sincerely yours, Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator