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Source: KETV
OMAHA, Neb. -- Nebraska’s senior senator in the U.S. Congress has been the center of attention throughout the health care debate on Capitol Hill because he’s part of the so-called “Gang of Six” legislators trying to come up with some sort of compromise.
Sen. Ben Nelson was in the metro area this past weekend and was talking about health care.
Speaking before a group of Sarpy County democrats on Sunday, Nelson said political partisanship is getting in the way of progress. He said health care reform affects all of us and could take through the end of the year to resolve.
“These are America’s problems,” Nelson said. “They’re our problems and we need, as Americans, to come together to do that.”
Nelson said both the public and politicians are confused about the issue’s complexity. He said the outburst from Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina during President Barack Obama’s speech last week, is a good indication of how challenging the debate on reform has been.
“There’s a fear factor with all this that it will be done wrong, or some ‘i’ won’t be dotted or ‘t’ won’t be crossed. I think that was what he (Wilson) was getting at,” Nelson said.
Nelson suggested he won’t support a bill that pays for abortions and for illegal immigrants. But he said he would support a bill that calls for insurance reform mandating that insurance companies to stop denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.
As for the public option, Nelson said he doesn’t have high hopes for it.
“I can’t tell you the public option is gone, but I can tell you I don’t see a public option emerging as part of this legislation,” he said.
In the mean time, Nelson said the contentious debate will continue until Congress agrees on a final proposal.
“When we get the final product, whatever that is, then I think people can focus on it and we’ll have only one target to deal with,” Nelson said.
Nelson said he expects there will be some sort of agreement on health care reform before the end of the year.
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