Democratic Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota has voiced his opposition to the hotly debated public option for current health reform legislation. Conrad is instead pursuing "federally chartered co-ops," which he believes will be more politically viable. A member of the Senate Finance Committee, Conrad has a significant influence in developing the legislation.
While disagreement on the proposal is common among Republicans, Conrad is one of few Democratic Senators to oppose it, along with Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana.
Former DNC Chair Howard Dean rebuked the idea, arguing Monday morning on MSNBC that co-ops are "too small to compete with big private insurance companies" and that the insurance industry "will kill" them. The concept, according to Dean, is a political stunt "designed to deal with problems in the Senate," without adequately addressing the nation’s major health care problems.
Dean’s allusion raises the issue of ties between legislators and health care providers.
Throughout his Senate career, Conrad has accepted over two million dollars from the health care establishment ($2,147,200 to be exact), according to the Center for Responsive Politics. This is broken up as $824,837 from the "Insurance" industry, $604,432 from "Health Professionals," $275,766 from "Hospitals/Nursing Homes," $253,450 from "Pharmaceuticals/Health Products," and $188,715 from "Health Services/HMOs."
We all know that campaign contributions are anything but uncommon in politics, these industries have a long history of resisting – if not actively combating – health care reform. Insurance companies, who are among Conrad’s biggest donors, are strongly resisting the public plan, decrying "unfair competition" from the government.
Should any of us trust Conrad's intentions? Spread the word so we can put a little pressure on him to find his conscience and do the right thing.