Congressman Steve King says the debate over health care reform is at a level of intensity that’s nearly as high as debates over immigration.
King, a Republican from Kiron, rejects the idea a so-called "public option" is needed as competition for private insurance plans. "I’d point out that there are a little bit more than 1300 health insurance companies in America and a combination of policies of around 100,000 different varieties," King says.
King advocates lifting restrictions so every health insurance company can sell policies nationwide. While King says he agrees health care costs are too high, King says he doesn’t buy the Obama Administration’s claim that as many as 47 million Americans are uninsured.
"By the time you subtract from that number those that are eligible for, say, a government benefit like Medicaid, for example, that don’t sign up; those that make over $75,000 a year that should be able to take care of themselves; and those that are illegal and those that are newly arriving immigrants that have an obligation to take care of themselves for the first five years you take that 47 million number down to about 12 million according to a Senate Finance Committee report," King says. "And that’s less than four percent of the population in the United States."
King made his comments earlier today on "The Exchange" on Iowa Public Radio.