By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — Support for a government-run health insurance plan is growing, leaders of groups advocating for health care reform said at a news conference here today.

“Before, everybody was out scaring the general public on the debates — I mean, there was a lot of misinformation being put out by different groups during that time,” Alan Hughes, president of the Arkansas AFL-CIO, said at a news conference organized by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

“I think that’s sort of cooled off and people have had more time now to hear it and understand it, so I think you’re seeing support of that public option,” Hughes said.

Also Tuesday, Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee, was scheduled to hold events in more than 1,000 cities, including Fayetteville, Conway and Batesville. The events were to include live broadcasts of President Obama asking volunteers to urge people to call members of Congress and voice support for reform.

The organization set a nationwide goal of 100,000 calls to members of Congress in one day. By midday that goal had been reached, according to Organizing for America’s Web site.

In Little Rock, volunteers delivered letters in support of reform to the office of U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and collected signatures on petitions they said would be submitted to congressional representatives later in the week.

The events coincided with the release of a Washington Post-ABC News poll showing that 57 percent of all Americans now favor a public option, compared to 52 percent in mid-August.

If a public plan were run by the states and available only to people without an affordable private option, support jumps to 76 percent, according to the poll.

The poll was based on phone calls to a random national sample of 1,004 adults conducted Oct. 15-18. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percent.

Advocates in Little Rock said Tuesday they believe a public option is necessary to inject competition into the marketplace and drive down insurance costs. They also said they support a requirement that employers provide insurance coverage to all employees or help them pay for it, and they oppose taxing some insurance policies to help pay for reforms.

“There’s some debate in Congress as to whether or not high-cost plans should be taxed. We think that is definitely the wrong way to go here. … We need to make sure that nobody’s health care benefits are taxed,” said John Noonan of AFSCME.

Several Democratic members of Arkansas’ congressional delegation have voiced opposition to a public option. Noonan said in an interview he does not believe their positions are “set in stone.”

“If you look at Sen. (Blanche) Lincoln’s statements, she’s been saying that she can’t support a fully government-funded public option, but nobody’s been talking about that, so I think she’s got some wiggle room,” he said.
“Just the other day, Congressman (Mike) Ross was kicking around the idea of opening up Medicare to everyone, so I mean, that’s an expansion. I think they’re moving in the right direction,” Noonan said.

Ross, D-Prescott, told Arkansas reporters Monday he has suggested opening Medicare only to people who are now uninsured, not to everyone. He said he made the suggestion for the sake of discussion, not because he necessarily supports the idea.

Expanding Medicare would be different from “creating a new federal bureaucracy,” Ross said Monday.