Hagan talks about jobs, funding, services

By Catharin Shepard

Staff writer

United States Air Force Spouse of the Year finalist Susan Reynolds was surprised when she learned TriCare, the military’s medical insurance plan, wouldn’t cover the $1,500 therapeutic helmet her infant son needed to gently reshape his skull.
Her child was born with a cranial malformation, but TriCare determined the problem was a cosmetic issue not covered under the military insurance plan. Reynolds didn’t agree.
“I decided well, I’m going to change the policy,” she said.
In seeking that change, one of her calls was to the office of United States Sen. Kay Hagan, a Democrat representing North Carolina and serving on the Senate’s Armed Forces committee. Hagan’s office has been helping with Reynolds’ inquires into how many military families are affected by this particular TriCare policy, Reynolds said.
Although Reynolds and her husband paid the bill for their son’s therapeutic helmet, she was still pursuing the change to TriCare to help other families when she met Hagan during a “Conversations with Kay” stop in Raeford last week.
“His ears are now fully symmetrical,” she said, introducing her little boy to the senator.

Reynolds was one of about 50 people who turned out to speak one-on-one with the senator on a variety of topics ranging from jobs and services to growth in the area. The meeting was one of several visits the senator planned for the area last week, including a stop in Scotland County promoting her “North Carolina Back To Work” campaign.

National Guard member and veterans services representative Jenny Hartsock and other Hagan staffers attended the meeting and took down information from people seeking help navigating federal agency services. Others in the crowd sought advice about funding for projects or agencies.
Non-profit organizer Shirley Hart asked the senator about possible funding for the Tia Hart Community Recovery program. County Manager Tim Johnson asked Hagan about funding for the county’s infrastructure and library, particularly sewer project funds from the United States Department of Agriculture.
“We’ve still got the big project that we need funding for, and we’re in the process, we’ve already bid out the Phase V, that’s with USDA funding. But my big thing was to get them make a phone call. There’s no problems but it doesn’t hurt to have your senator call them and say yeah, we want them to have that,” Johnson said.
Hagan, identified as a “rank-and-file Democrat” by nonpartisan vote and bill sponsor tracker GovTrack, said she hopes to work with Republicans and Democrats on legislation for funding infrastructure needs.
“There is some funding we can provide for those issues but usually it’s never enough,” she said. “That’s why we need, as Congress, we need to work together, Democrats and Republicans, to help solve these issues and not keep kicking the can down the road.”
Hagan also touted her support for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education.
“We need to make wise investments and I think we’ve got to focus on education, we’ve got to invest in education and we’ve got to invest in STEM education, because those are the jobs of the future, the science, technology, engineering and math,” she said. “We need to have a strong pre-K to 12th grade, but we really look at community colleges for the training for our workforce. We want to be sure they have those portable industry-recognized credentials for jobs of the 21st century.”
Hagan, who defeated incumbent Sen. Elizabeth Dole in the 2008 election, will be up for reelection in 2014.