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Amtrak, health care among Hare priorities
Last Updated: June 22, 2009, 10:51 pm
By Dawn Neuses, dneuses@qconline.com
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MOLINE -- Amtrak and health care are key issues that U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Rock Island, said he is working on during a Monday session with the Dispatch/Rock Island Argus editorial board. More than $23 million is needed to make the Chicago-Quad-Cities route a reality, and Rep. Hare said it is one of his top priorities for the area � a message he shared with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood during a recent meeting. He said he's also urging other members of the House transportation subcommittee to back the route. "I think the money will be coming with the capital bill. They won't release any federal rail money until mid- to late-July, and then there will be an announcement as to what projects," Congressman Hare said. "It would be wonderful. You are talking about 800 jobs or more. The people here have worked so hard on it. My job has just been to try and get the money," he added. On health care, Rep. Hare said what he thinks will happen is the launch of a public insurance plan in addition to a private plan. People could choose between either. "If you like your health care now, you like your doctor and your provider, you don't have to worry about it. You not forced out and the government will not take over your policy. If you lose your job and are unemployed, you won't go to COBRA. "This public plan will be based on the federal employees benefit plan similar to Blue Cross and Blue Shield where everyone (participating) pays a premium. Some say it could be five percent of your income, but everyone pays something. There is no free policy for anyone," he said. He said a public health care plan promotes competition, and it would waive all pre-existing conditions. "People want to go to the doctor they want to, the hospital they want to. They want a number of things, and under this plan they'll be able to do this," Congressman Hare said. "A family of four now pays about 23 percent of their median income on health care. If we don't do anything by 2016 it will go to 50 percent," Congressman Hare said. He wants the bill to make the public insurance portable and open opportunities for small businesses to offer health care to employees. Congressman Hare also said the administrative costs of health care on things such as paperwork need to be cut by standardization. He also said medical malpractice insurance needs to be looked at as it becomes more and more expensive for doctors each year. "We are going to get a lot of push back in this by the insurance lobby. It is so easy to say no and much tougher to say yes," he said. Hare took 'dirty' money? The Washington Examiner, a tabloid published in Washington, D. C., reported recently that U.S. Rep. Phil Hare took about $85,000 in "dirty" money from several unions. The money is dirty, the Examiner said, because various officers and members of the unions have been convicted of felonies, ranging from embezzlement to mail fraud, since 2001. The Examiner story, by editorial page editor Mark Tapscott, said Rep. Hare did not respond to a request for comment. Rep. Hare told the Dispatch/Argus editorial board Monday he had not seen the Examiner story but said for the most part, unions are made up of a good and decent people. He also said he does not accept contributions from tobacco companies, big oil or banks that have received federal financial support. 
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