By Tom Grace
Minutes before the Senate Finance Committee rejected two public-option proposals Tuesday, Rep. Michael Arcuri, D-Utica, predicted the House will include a public option when it passes a health-insurance reform bill.
``We're getting close to passing a bill, and I believe it will include a public option,'' Arcuri said during an interview with The Daily Star.
The second-term representative, who visited Otsego County twice in recent days, said the public option _ a publicly run insurance program something like Medicare _ would work to keep health-insurance costs down.
``It would compete with private insurance companies, and I think that's why they don't like it,'' he said.
In health-insurance proposals before Congress now, an insurance exchange would be created so people could more easily compare plans, he said.
When reform comes, uninsured Americans may be compelled to buy insurance, and the exchange is where they'll do their comparative shopping.
Having a public option among the many private plans is a way to make sure costs are within reach of the uninsured, he said.
However, people who are insured by their employers will not be able to switch to the public option, ``or the whole system would fall apart,'' Arcuri said.
Arcuri, 50, was the featured speaker at the Otsego County Democratic Committee meeting Saturday, where he spoke in favor of the public option. He was back in the county Monday night, this time at a fundraiser in Cooperstown.
He's raising funds because he plans to seek a third term, although he's not ready to make a formal announcement,
he said.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Arcuri had collected $452,655 as of June 30. The next quarter ends today, but Arcuri said he set no records in the last three months.
``It can be difficult to raise money in this economic climate,'' he said. ``And I have no opponent, so supporters don't see the urgency of helping now.'' Still, he did raise about $1.6 million in the last election cycle, and his total in June was above average for a representative.
In 2008, Arcuri beat Republican businessman Richard Hanna by only four percentage points in a race that was undecided before absentee ballots were counted.
On Monday, Hanna, 58, said he is considering a rematch.
``I have two young children, and I'm really enjoying myself, spending time with them,'' he said. ``But I am interested and watching closely.'' In his first race, Hanna said he made mistakes he wouldn't repeat in 2010.
When asked about a notable Arcuri vote _ the "nay" vote on whether to censure Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., for calling President Barack Obama a liar _ Hanna said he would have voted the other way.
``I think there's a time and place for everything, and that was not the time or place.''
Arcuri defended his vote, one of only 12 "nay" votes cast by Democrats, because ``that vote was purely political.
"Rep. Wilson apologized to the president and the president accepted the apology," Arcuri said. "That should have been the end of it.''
Hanna said he thinks Arcuri is courting his Republican-leaning district, building a case that he is independent from the Democratic leadership.
Arcuri dismissed this as ``more of that (National Republican Congressional Committee) stuff.''
Arcuri said he is worried about a potential buildup of troops in Afghanistan, where American soldiers have been serving for eight years.
``I don't think the generals have made a good case for it, and I am concerned,'' he said. Recently, he met with the parents of a soldier who died in Afghanistan, and ``they don't want us to leave until we've completed the mission.
``I know how they feel, but I think we have to ask ourselves `what is the mission?'" Arcuri said.
Otsego County Democratic Chairman Ed Lentz said he
believes Arcuri ably represents the 24th Congressional District.
``It's a very diverse district, with some who are very conservative and others who are very liberal,'' he said. ``I know there are conservatives who wish Mike was more like them and liberals who wish he was more liberal, but he's done a good job of finding a way to represent everyone."
Lentz's Republican counterpart, Sheila Ross, gives Arcuri low marks.
`He's just like Nancy Pelosi,'' Ross said. When asked of her opinion of the House speaker, Ross said, ``I think she's terrible.''
