Welcome Mr. Fisher, thanks for being here today.

I understand you’re going to be at the AFL-CIO Labor Day picnic with President Obama and Richard Trumka. That should be quit an event.

You’ve been outspoken in your support of a public option (great interview with Jonathan Singer) — can you tell me what you think about triggers?

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/7/28/21367/1251

Thanks for coming by.

Why is it that there are three statewide elected officials (yourself, Brunner, & Brown) all fighting for the public option in the battleground state of Ohio yet DC conventional wisdom hasn’t realized the electoral importance of a good bill?

I’d like to thank the FireDogLake community for having me here today, and I’m looking forward to answering your questions!

Welcome to the Lake, Lt Gov. Fisher.

How does your position on the Public Option differ from your primary opponent, Sect’y Brunner?

Hello from Hilliard Lt Gov! Beyond the public option, do you also support single payer? How can either/both be promoted most effectively within Ohio? And do you see support statewide? How about in rural areas?

Sorry. I just logged on, I didnt know we had the chance to meeet you today Lt Govenor. My question is the same as the first two;if you were a member of the progressive caucus of the HOR, would you vote against a bill W/O a “robust” PO? Do you know why the finance committee bill,& the WH handling of the entire issue, is putting in jeopardy the support of the “base” progressive (former) supporters of Pres. Obama like me?

Before I answer your specific question, I want to make the point that this is a personal issue for me, and not just a public policy issue. Like many of you, I have long been engaged in the fight for increased access to affordable healthcare for all Ohioans.

Over a decade ago, I championed the Patient’s Bill of Rights that would have guaranteed the right to choose your doctor and prevent insurance companies from denying legitimate coverage claims. As Attorney General, I cracked down on Medicare fraud.

Everywhere I travel in Ohio I find a middle class family that has lost coverage because their job disappeared or a family who has lost insurance because someone in their home became seriously ill and their coverage was dropped. It is their stories that drive me in this fight for health care reform.

With regard to your specific question, too many people in Washington DC are swayed and influenced by the powerful insurance companies who strongly oppose true health care reform. These are many of the same people who want to privatize Social Security and end Medicare as we know it.

Everywhere I go, seniors in particular tell me how grateful they are for Medicare, which is a public health insurance program. Ohioans want as many choices as possible including one modeled after the very successful Medicare program which has lifted so many older Americans out of poverty.

In the end, as President Obama has said, this is a contest between hope and fear — and we must choose hope.

Mr. Fisher

Are you concerned that the current direction of the health care debate will result in a bill so poorly designed that it will discredit the Democratic party and the whole idea of trying to reform our health care system?

I was pleased to see the New York Times editorial page today coming out strongly in support of a public option in response to Republicans who are opposed to reform. I strongly support a public option available on day one in any legislation that comes out of Congress.

My concern about a trigger is that those who oppose true health care reform will include benchmarks that are unreachable or will otherwise make it difficult to trigger that option. Now is the time to seize the moment.

On healthcare I want to pay the same price for drugs that Canada and Mexico pays what is your stance on this subject and what is the current Democratic Party stance?

We’ve both been outspoken on this and I’m glad that we share the same position because it’s so important. We know that Rob Portman won’t support a public option, which is why we need to elect a Democrat to the Senate from Ohio next year.

George Will of all people is now against the Afghan war. Can we end the war and use part or all of the savings to pay for Healthcare? I think running on this issue would be a winner.

Will you stand against any further Bank bailouts unless we get Health Care Now? Its amazing how the Business Party the GOP got away with voting for Bailouts then they use that issue against us. Its amazing how there is always more cash for wars but none for Katrina victims or Healthcare.

Will you support Cash for Clunkers next year? You have a few auto plants in your state. The GM Volt could really cut are dependence on foreign oil if Cash for Clunkers cash was given in proportion to MPG the Volt would be a very affordable car.

What is the political mood in your state? How does your campaign look now? What local and National factors do you think can help/hurt you?
What issues do you think the GOP will run on?

I’m looking forward to the president’s address on Wednesday where I hope he will lay out a strong plan that includes a public option. I have great confidence in President Obama, Senator Sherrod Brown, and others who have long championed effective health care reform and remain optimistic that they will pass legislation that will make a real difference and of which we can be proud.

That said, it is important that we get health care right — we must ensure that health care reform makes sure that stable health care coverage can’t be taken away, that you and your doctor make health care decisions together, that you won’t be denied coverage based on a pre-existing condition, that lowers costs and caps out of pocket expenses, and that focuses on preventive care.

The true way to reduce the costs of prescription drugs here in America is to allow Medicare and a public health insurance program to directly negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies. That’s why drug prices are often so much lower in other countries, so we should skip the middle man and do the negotiating right here at home.

Another component in reducing prescription drug prices is to ensure that we don’t put artificial restrictions on bringing generic drugs to market.

Hear Hear.

we definitely need reform that, as you say, lowers costs and caps out of pocket expenses [among other things], but –

– without real price controls imposed by the government on both providers and insurers [as is done in switzerland, for example], i don’t see ‘competition’ provided by a public option, especially as it’s structured right now, having the clout to lower costs;

– besides the fact that the affordability criteria for premiums and out of pocket maximums in the proposed legislation are awfully close to unaffordable for many, the cap on out of pocket expenses [as presently proposed] doesn’t include out of network charges. this is a huge source of expenses for many people who thought they had adequate insurance.

[edited to correct typos]

As you know, single payer is a heavy lift in the current political and legislative environment, so I prefer to focus on what is both important and doable right now, which is a robust public health insurance option like Medicare that would be available to anyone, anywhere in the country.

In my experience, once people understand that a public option will help keep the private insurance companies honest and accountable, that it will promote competition and lower health care costs, and that it will likely be modeled on the successful Medicare program, they enthusiastically support the public option.

That was confirmed when I participated in the health care rally in Columbus last week that attracted a large and diverse group of Ohioans who turned out to show their strong support for not only health care reform, but reform that includes a public option.

Good afternoon, Lt. Gov. Fisher.

According to Matt Taibbi’s article in Rolling Stone, the bill that’s likely to come to the House floor will have the public option’s price tied not to Medicare, but to the prevailing cost of health insurance. He also alleges that access to the insurance pool will be limited to those whose employers don’t offer any insurance plan at all, without regard to how affordable or useful the employers’ plans are.

Do these strike you as features of a public option you would support?

Welcome. Where do you stand on the size of subsidies being proposed for those purchasing insurance in the exchange, and what revenue sources do you think should be tapped to pay for them?

Thank you for answering truthfully about triggers — any kind of reasonable standard for insurance industry responsibility was “triggered” long ago. Are you concerned that your race could be affected by low Democratic turnout if the public option gets scrapped?

I believe it was Rasmussen that reported a majority of Democrats only feel health care reform is worth passing if it has a public option. A demoralized base does not seem like a good thing from a 2010 perspective.

Welcome from Ohio’s 18th district.
I see a decided lack of hope here among young people.
I know an ER nurse whose daughter got married to someone on his 3rd tour in Iraq. He reupped because there were no jobs here, and $20,000 bonus was of course a big factor.
Any help on the horizon? Or do we just say thank god we’re alive this second and be done with hope?

At the end of the day we lose if we can’t tell the voters that now they will pay the same amount for drugs as Canada and Mexico the GOP will hold that failure over our heads if we settle for less.
The GOP loves blocking us and then blaming us for the failure of the things they blocked.

In cities and towns across Ohio, families are struggling to put food on the table and keep a roof overhead. I’ve seen this economic crisis through the eyes of families in Wilmington, Mansfield, Twinsburg, and throughout Ohio whose jobs have been lost without notice. I have learned that they don’t want sympathy and they don’t want promises.

What they do want, is for their elected officials to work hard for real solutions, and they want a government that they’ve supported with their tax dollars to give them the tools to get back on their feet through their own hard work.

If elected to the Senate, no one will work harder every single day to improve the lives of Ohio’s families. We can’t afford to go back to the failed policies of the past, but rather need to move forward to a clean energy economy that creates new jobs and protects our environment, a world class education system that helps our children compete in the global economy, and a reformed health care system where no one goes bankrupt because they get sick, and no one is denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions.

Thanks so much to the entire FireDogLake community for having me here today. This is a critically important issue and I can’t underscore how important your activism has been on health care reform.

I hope you’ll follow our race over the coming year and will help us send another progressive voice to the Senate from Ohio!

I believe it was Rasmussen that reported a majority of Democrats only feel health care reform is worth passing if it has a public option. A demoralized base does not seem like a good thing from a 2010 perspective.

I have been to 2 town hall meets the Public Option is the most popular sign. Also we way outnumber the tea baggers Town Hall attendance has turned into a ground game of turnout now.
The GOP seems to think that Unions, Planned Parenthood, Socialists, Democratic Activists, are not grass roots the regular people old, middle age, young are of course dupes.
Yet despite their Media support they can’t bring out their troops. That and when questions are asked they can’t shoot us down.
So they scream to stop debate and then they accuse us of not knowing whats in the bill. The GOP has no cards this is a bluff.
Forget what the Elites say is politically possible the longer this debate goes on the more we educate the Moderates.
I think we are soon going to see a backlash against biased Big Media Coverage. I think that the more the GOP delays this the more support we can get for this bill.
We should be upping the ante. We should be asking for Healthcare for everyone now. The GOP and big Media are sipping Tea in the Winter Palace as the People rush the Gates.

What kind of support are you getting in South Ohio? I lived and worked in Cincinnati area for 12 years and found the area to be Republican in a not so nice way……i.e., I learned to keep my mouth shut lest I lose my job with a court system.

An idea for green jobs for your state. Spain made every new house built put up solar panels suppose we make Nationwide or at least in Ohio every house new and old assuming the roof will support it put up solar panels?
Lots of jobs created plus all that extra power in the electrical grid would help lower manufacturing costs in your state.

How do you plan to improve the job situation in Ohio? I was born there, so I still have some connection to it.

Haven’t had the opportunity to read the thread yet, but I’ve always thought of Lee Fisher as one of the good guys here in Ohio.

He’d be a vast improvement on Voinovich, probably not as far left as Sherrod Brown, but would be a very good, progressive senator for Ohio.

Since I don’t live in Ohio, I guess it really doesn’t matter, but could anyone here help me out with his answer to the single payer question?

I’ve read it twice now, and can’t tell whether he supports but believes it’s unattainable or whether he just doesn’t support it.

my guess: it’s one of those whichever you want it to mean answers.

I notice that neither one of these Senate candidates answered my question about what they thought would be a supportable public option. The first time, the wording left some doubt as to what I meant, but not this time.

I think I’m gonna pass on these two. Hate to sound caustic, but I’m really nervous when people don’t answer questions straight out. Folks who do that haven’t worked out well lately.