By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor said today he has finished reading the Senate’s health care bill but is not ready to take a position on it.
“I just finished reading it yesterday,” Pryor, D-Ark., told reporters after an appearance at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service.
“I’m going to look at some of the analysis, (and) when I come back after Thanksgiving I’m going to have a lot of questions for my staff about how it will really impact Arkansas.”
Pryor said he likes that the legislation would expand health insurance coverage to more people, but as is often the case with complicated bills, “I need to talk to some people to make sure I understand exactly how it would work in our state.”
The bill includes a government-run insurance option, a provision Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., has said she cannot support in its present form. Pryor said he is undecided on the public option.
“I’m not 100 percent sure how the Senate version works. Before I cast judgment on that I need to know how it would work and how it would impact Arkansas,” he said.
Pryor added, “Most people who have looked at the public option have said that maybe only about 2 percent of the people would end up utilizing the public option. That’s not to say it’s not important — it is important if 2 percent of the people would utilize it. But I’ll look at it and I’ll see if I feel like it’s good for Arkansas.”
Pryor was asked if he planned to state an opinion on the bill after the Thanksgiving weekend.
“I think what I will probably do is wait and see how it changes through the process,” he said, noting that numerous amendments will be offered before the bill comes up for a final vote.
Pryor also said he had no opinion on the House’s health care bill.
“I know I won’t have a chance to vote on it, so I just never have focused too much on the House bill,” he said.
An amendment to the House bill would ban health care subsidies from being used in a proposed new health insurance exchange to pay for private insurance plans that cover elective abortions. Lincoln has said she opposes the amendment by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., because it would go beyond an existing federal law restricting the use of federal funds for abortion.
“I don’t know yet if that (House) amendment will be offered in the Senate,” Pryor said today. “My understanding is the Senate version of the bill accepted the Finance Committee’s language on abortion, which is no federal funds for abortion. I’ll have to look at Stupak and see how that changes it.”
Asked if he thinks the Senate bill goes far enough to ban federal funding for elective abortions, Pryor said, “I just haven’t made up my mind.”
