Nevada City Advocate - A free news & entertainment Newspaper Serving Nevada City & Greater Nevada County: McClintock says public option a threat to health care

McClintock says public option a threat to health care
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Pat Butler on Sep 04 09:20am
 
President Obama’s proposed health-care reform would put the nation on course
for a government takeover of health care in five years, Rep. Tom McClintock said
after a recent visit to Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital in Grass Valley.
“It’s more than a slippery slope, it sets in motion a one-size-fits-all
health-care system,” the Republican lawmaker said. “I am highly skeptical
that a government takeover of health care will improve anything.”
McClintock said he favors a bill that offers tax credits or vouchers as a way
to provide coverage for the uninsured and to allow those with coverage to shop
around.
The public option, which gives Americans the choice of getting insurance
through the government, would undermine private insurers and encourage employers
to drop coverage now being offered to workers, McClintock said.
McClintock, who narrowly defeated Democrat Charlie Brown in the 4th
Congressional District race, also defended his votes against the federal
stimulus bill and the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, which was designed
to prevent foreclosures.
The stimulus bill is too costly and only benefits government, he said, while he
felt the mortgage legislation would only encourage property owners from making
their payments so they could qualify for the program.
McClintock cited the mortgage crisis while explaining why he’s yet to buy a
house in the district, one of the largest in the state.
The lawmaker, who represented a Southern California district in the Assembly
before he ran for Congress last fall, said his Elk Grove house is “upside
down” and that he can’t buy another home until that situation changes.