Daily Sitka Sentinel

SENTINEL ELECTION SERIES: Health, Climate Top Candidate’s Agenda

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer

In the closing days of his campaign for U.S. Senate, Al Gross highlighted his support for the Affordable Care Act, the formation of a public option for health coverage, and positive action on global climate change in a speech at the Crescent Harbor shelter Thursday evening.

Gross, an orthopedic surgeon originally from Juneau, talked of his support for a robust healthcare system and used this to differentiate himself from his opponent, incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan.

“When Dan Sullivan turned his back on the healthcare issue... as a senator over and over again he voted against the Affordable Care Act with no plan to replace it – I got mad,” Gross told the crowd of about 50 to 100 Sitkans gathered in the cold.

Gross said he chose to run for Senate in large part to focus on the cost of healthcare.

“I saw how the incredibly expensive healthcare system is hurting our economy and people who live here,” he said.

U.S. Senate candidate Al Gross speaks at a rally at the Crescent Harbor Shelter Thursday night. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

A critical aspect of this is the formation of the public option for healthcare in the United States, Gross said.

“I want to be the doctor who gets the public option across the finish line. It’s long overdue that people have the option to buy into the public system,” he said.

The “public option” would involve a government offered insurance program, such as Medicare or Medicaid, meant to offer affordable health coverage to a number of Americans.

The New York Times summarized the concept of a public option in a 2019 story.

“You can think of a public option as something of a compromise between a single-payer system (such as in New Zealand or Iceland) and our current system, in which only certain Americans now qualify for government-run programs. More people — maybe many more — could get government insurance. But only if they wanted it.

“Public-option plans would allow middle-income, working-age adults to choose a public insurance plan — like Medicare or Medicaid — instead of a private insurance plan... Under most proposals, people who get federal help buying Obamacare coverage could use their government subsidies to help them buy either a private or public option,” the Times reported.

Gross spoke on issues beyond healthcare as well. He stressed the need for action to stem climate change and called for renewable energy development in Alaska.

“I’m very climate change aware. I’m eager to get involved in as many renewable energy projects in Alaska as we can possibly do. We have to join back up with the Paris Climate Accord,” he said.

The Paris agreement, which the United States left under the Trump Administration, attempts to limit global temperature rise to under 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels, according to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

While Gross did not address the topic of oil and gas extraction in Alaska, on his web page he expresses support for petroleum development in parts of the state.

“I will support and strongly advocate for responsible development of oil and gas resources in Alaska’s federal areas. But, we must also balance and protect the development of other resources that could be threatened by irresponsible exploitation of Alaska’s oil and gas – and take sensible steps to protect the workers and communities impacted by these industries,” Gross’s website says.

He also reaffirmed his opposition to Pebble Mine in the Bristol Bay area, a topic which has featured heavily in Gross’s online advertisements.

Along with this, the candidate promised to push for national measures to tackle the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Gross said he would “help get COVID under control so we can get on with our life. And we are going to do that by re-establishing trust in government and not having fundraisers indoors without masks. That is not OK. And coordinating a national effort so we don’t have fifty different plans going on.”

He said this would help restore tourism to Southeast.

Gross also promised to support additional funding for the Alaska Marine Highway System.

Gross disputed how he’s been depicted in Sullivan’s advertisements as a “far left liberal.”

“He is trying to paint me as some left wing liberal. I’m not. I grew up on fishing boats, I’ve got guns, and I drive boats. I’m just an Alaskan,” Gross said.

The election is Tuesday, November 3. Early voting is open now in Sitka, at Harrigan Centennial Hall from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and Monday. Voting will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday.