* I SUPPORT A PUBLICLY-RUN COMPETITOR TO PRIVATE INSURANCE.  Private
insurance is a for-profit business.  Their job is to make money off of
insuring people; to make money, they try not to pay for care. 
Insurance employees cannot tell a doctor the best way to bill the
services provided to the patient.  Private insurance companies are
allowed to "quote benefits" to patients and doctor’s offices which may
be totally inaccurate and to which they are not bound.  On the other
hand, Medicaid, PUBLIC insurance for the poor, publishes "billing
instructions" which communicate to providers how to be reimbursed for
the services they provide, and which services and diagnoses will not be
covered.  Customer service reps for Medicaid refer doctors offices to
the billing instructions, even consulting the appropriate parts of the
instructions for the doctor’s representative.  They are clear about
what they cover.  Patients need to know what health care will cost
them, and in my experience, public insurance is more up-front about
what will be covered and how much coverage there will be. 

* I
SUPPORT HEALTH INSURANCE THAT COVERS WOMEN MAKING THEIR OWN BEST
CHOICES ABOUT REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH.  Women who choose to prevent
pregnancy when they are not prepared to be parents save money for their
insurer (the state in the case of a public plan).  Women who do not
wish to be pregnant but are will save their insurer money by choosing
abortion.  Women who are carrying a pregnancy to term and wish to seek
midwifery care in an out of hospital setting will save their insurer
money because interventions will be reduced.  Any reasonable insurer,
while not mandating a woman to do any of these things, will provide her
the coverage to do these things if she so chooses.  By honoring a
woman’s own wisdom about her reproductive choices, insurers win as does
the dignity of the woman, who is given every opportunity to control her
reproductive destiny.