Sen. Kay Hagan 'On Message' And On The Attack, In First Interview After GOP Senate Primary

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• published: 17 May 2014
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(Aired 5/15/2014 on Time Warner Cable News North Carolina) I interviewed Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan on Wednesday — for the first time after House Speaker Thom Tillis won outright the GOP nomination in the state's U.S. Senate race. Hagan was characteristically "on message," as she defended her support of the Affordable Care Act. That unwavering support has provided Republicans one of their favorite — and perhaps, most effective — lines of attack against her. President Obama's healthcare overhaul is still unpopular among many voters. I asked Hagan if she thought her ties to the Affordable Care Act made her politically vulnerable as she seeks reelection. Here's what she said: "You know there are many issues that are going to be in this election. Obviously, the ACA is going to be one of them. But I think you've got to look at several factors. This is changing, first, the delivery of care. But also in the three years, we've had the lowest increase for Medicare and Medicaid premiums since the 1960s. So it's already making a difference. And in North Carolina, we have the fifth-highest sign-up in the nation — and that's after the four most populated states of New York, California, Texas and Florida — which shows a need for affordable and accessible health coverage. And those individuals who signed up in North Carolina on an individual market — prior to the ACA, a third of them would have been denied coverage because of a preexisting condition. My opponent wants to repeal, repeal, repeal. He's really not being upfront with what he would do because he says there are good parts. But he will repeal this bill, so if anybody has a pre-existing condition, they no longer would get coverage. Women would pay more than men. And our seniors would be paying thousands of dollars more for prescription drug coverage. We ultimately will do away with the 'doughnut hole.' Tom Tillis will increase that." She continued: "The other thing that Tom Tillis has done — he has said 'no' to Medicaid expansion. 500,000 people in our state would be covered like in so many other states. Our hospitals are asking the General Assembly, 'Please accept this,' because these people are still getting sick, they are still going to the emergency room and the reimbursement rates will ultimately go away to our hospitals. This is the plan that Thom Tillis has put forward. Anybody with a pre-existing condition, you're out of luck. And 500,000 people in our state would not receive coverage." This week, Public Policy Polling — a left-leaning polling firm based in Raleigh -- said the North Carolina Senate race continues to be a toss-up. Their first general election poll shows Hagan leading Tillis 38 to 36 percent, with libertarian Sean Haugh pulling a "surprisingly high" 11 percent. Though the accuracy and value of that poll are a matter of debate, Hagan told me she's not focused on opinion polls: "You know, I don't pay a whole lot of attention to polls and neither to people in North Carolina," said Hagan. "The people I talk to every day — they're worried about jobs, they're worried economy. They are certainly worried about teachers leaving our state. They are worried about how they're going to save for education. Seniors are worried about protecting Social Security and Medicare. These are issues that people that are concerned about. Those are the issues that I'll be talking about on my campaign. There's going to be a huge contrast between me putting North Carolinians first and Thom Tillis putting the special interest, Koch-brothers agenda first."