SOURCE: STAR TRIBUNE
By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press
Last update: October 13, 2009
WASHINGTON - With support from a lone Republican, a key Senate committee Tuesday approved a middle-of-the-road health care plan that moves President Barack Obama's goal of wider and affordable coverage a giant step closer to becoming law.
Maine Republican Olympia Snowe said she was laying aside misgivings for now and voting to advance the bill, a sweeping $829-billon, 10-year health care remake that would help most Americans get coverage without creating a new government insurance plan. "When history calls, history calls," said Snowe.
Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., called his bill "a commonsense, balanced solution." A distance runner, Baucus has endured months of marathon meetings to get this far. It's not the finish line.
Health care legislation is expected to be on the Senate floor the week after next, said a spokesman for Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. But it won't be the Baucus bill. Reid will combine the Finance version with a more liberal proposal from the health committee — with unpredictable results.
The vote in the Finance Committee was 14-9, with Snowe joining all 13 Democrats in support. In a sign of long political battles ahead, every other Republican voted against it.
The ultimate fate of the legislation hinges on how lawmakers decide dozens of unresolved issues, from letting government sell insurance to abortion coverage. Even some senators who voted for the Baucus bill said they have concerns it will deliver on providing access to affordable coverage for all.
As Snowe made clear, "My vote today is my vote today. It doesn't forecast what my vote will be tomorrow."
The Baucus plan would, for the first time, require most Americans to purchase insurance and it also aims to hold down spiraling medical costs over the long term. Questions persist about whether it would truly provide access to affordable coverage, particularly for self employed people with solid middle class incomes.
The Finance Committee's top Republican, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, gave voice to the GOP's concerns about the bill, saying it was "moving on a slippery slope to more and more government control of health care."
"There's a lot in this bill that's just a consensus that needs to be done, but there are other provisions of this bill that raise a lot of questions," Grassley said, contending the legislation would mean higher costs for Americans.
The committee approval marked a personal victory for Baucus. Four other congressional committees finished their work before August, and for months all eyes had been on the Finance panel, whose moderate makeup most closely resembles the Senate as a whole.
Snowe kept Washington guessing about how she would vote until she announced it late in the debate Tuesday. Democrats, aware that Snowe could be the only Republican in Congress to vote for their health care overhaul, have spent months addressing her concerns about making coverage affordable and how to pay for it.
The committee's centrist legislation is also seen as the best building block for a compromise plan that could find favor on the Senate floor.
One of the biggest unanswered questions is whether the legislation would slow punishing increases in the nation's health care costs, particularly for the majority who now have coverage through employers. The insurance industry insists it would shift new costs onto those who have coverage.
Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf, under questioning by Republican senators, acknowledged that the bill's total impact on the nation's health care costs is still unknown. The CBO has been able to establish that the legislation would reduce federal government deficits, but Elmendorf said his staff has not had time to evaluate its effects on privately insured people. Government programs pay about half the nation's annual $2.5 trillion health care tab.
Once the Finance Committee has acted, the dealmaking can begin in earnest with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., working with White House staff, Baucus and others to blend the Finance bill with a more liberal version passed by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Baucus' bill includes consumer protections such as limits on copays and deductibles and relies on federal subsidies to help lower-income families purchase coverage.
Insurance companies would have to take all comers, and people could shop for insurance within new state marketplaces called exchanges.
Medicaid would be expanded, and though employers wouldn't be required to cover their workers, they'd have to pay a penalty for each employee who sought insurance with government subsidies. The bill is paid for by cuts to Medicare providers and new taxes on insurance companies and others.
Unlike the other health care bills in Congress, Baucus' would not allow the government to sell insurance in competition with private companies, a divisive element sought by liberals.
Last-minute changes made subsidies more generous and softened the penalties for those who don't comply with a proposed new mandate for everyone to buy insurance.
The latter change drew the ire of the health insurance industry, which said that without a strong and enforceable requirement, not enough people would get insured and premiums would jump for everyone else.
A major question mark for Reid's negotiations is whether he will include some version of a so-called public plan in the merged bill. Across the Capitol, House Democratic leaders are working to finalize their bill, which does contain a public plan, and floor action is expected in both chambers in coming weeks. If passed, the legislation would then go to a conference committee to reconcile differences.
___
Associated Press writer Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.
Showing posts with label Health Care Reform. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health Care Reform. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Obama to appear at Target Center
By BOB VON STERNBERG, Star Tribune
Last update: September 9, 2009
President Obama will bring his campaign to overhaul the nation's health care system to the Twin Cities on Saturday with what's being billed as a "health care reform rally" at Target Center.
The event will begin at 12:30 p.m. Doors open at 9:30 a.m. with airport-style security, and seating will be on a first-come, first-seated basis.
No bags, no sharp objects, no umbrellas, no liquids, no strollers, and no signs will be allowed into the venue. Cameras are permitted.
Obama's arrival and departure on Air Force One will not be open to the public.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar said late Tuesday night that she had heard that the president might be in Minnesota but hadn't received confirmation of the trip from White House officials.
But a trip to Minnesota would make sense, she said, because Obama has used Minnesota as a "shining example" of health care services. Specifically, Obama has cited the Mayo Clinic in Rochester as a system that works, praising its integrated system as an example of efficient, coordinated care.
However, Mayo officials have at time been at loggerheads with both the White House and Democratic congressional leaders over health care reform plans being considered.
Earlier this summer, the clinic blasted House Democrats' bill, saying "the proposed legislation misses the opportunity to help create higher quality, more affordable health care for patients."
Nonetheless, a Mayo official was scheduled to be in the audience tonight when Obama makes his case for health care reform before a joint session of Congress.
Jeffrey Korsmo of Mayo's Health Policy Center was invited to the speech by Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., who represents the clinic.
Also attending the speech will be Peter Olsen, a University of Minnesota medical student.
He was invited by Klobuchar after he spoke during a recent roundtable she held to stress the need for more primary care physicians, particularly in rural areas.
He was invited by Klobuchar after he spoke during a recent roundtable she held to stress the need for more primary care physicians, particularly in rural areas.
Last update: September 9, 2009
President Obama will bring his campaign to overhaul the nation's health care system to the Twin Cities on Saturday with what's being billed as a "health care reform rally" at Target Center.
The event will begin at 12:30 p.m. Doors open at 9:30 a.m. with airport-style security, and seating will be on a first-come, first-seated basis.
No bags, no sharp objects, no umbrellas, no liquids, no strollers, and no signs will be allowed into the venue. Cameras are permitted.
Obama's arrival and departure on Air Force One will not be open to the public.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar said late Tuesday night that she had heard that the president might be in Minnesota but hadn't received confirmation of the trip from White House officials.
But a trip to Minnesota would make sense, she said, because Obama has used Minnesota as a "shining example" of health care services. Specifically, Obama has cited the Mayo Clinic in Rochester as a system that works, praising its integrated system as an example of efficient, coordinated care.
However, Mayo officials have at time been at loggerheads with both the White House and Democratic congressional leaders over health care reform plans being considered.
Earlier this summer, the clinic blasted House Democrats' bill, saying "the proposed legislation misses the opportunity to help create higher quality, more affordable health care for patients."
Nonetheless, a Mayo official was scheduled to be in the audience tonight when Obama makes his case for health care reform before a joint session of Congress.
Jeffrey Korsmo of Mayo's Health Policy Center was invited to the speech by Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., who represents the clinic.
Also attending the speech will be Peter Olsen, a University of Minnesota medical student.
He was invited by Klobuchar after he spoke during a recent roundtable she held to stress the need for more primary care physicians, particularly in rural areas.
He was invited by Klobuchar after he spoke during a recent roundtable she held to stress the need for more primary care physicians, particularly in rural areas.
Obama may pay visit to Twin Cities for health care talk
By MARY LYNN SMITH, Star Tribune
Last update: September 9, 2009
A presidential visit may be in the works for the Twin Cities.
President Obama reportedly will be in Minnesota on Saturday, most likely to deliver a speech on health care reform at either the Target Center in Minneapolis or the Xcel Center in St. Paul.
White House officials haven't disclosed details about the trip, and on Tuesday local Democratic officials said they hadn't received any official word about a visit.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar said late Tuesday night that she had heard that the president might be in Minnesota but hadn't received confirmation of the trip from White House officials.
But a trip to Minnesota would make sense, she said, because Obama has used Minnesota as a "shining example" of health care services. Specifically, Obama has cited the Mayo Clinic in Rochester as a system that works, praising its integrated system as an example of efficient, coordinated care.
Last update: September 9, 2009
A presidential visit may be in the works for the Twin Cities.
President Obama reportedly will be in Minnesota on Saturday, most likely to deliver a speech on health care reform at either the Target Center in Minneapolis or the Xcel Center in St. Paul.
White House officials haven't disclosed details about the trip, and on Tuesday local Democratic officials said they hadn't received any official word about a visit.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar said late Tuesday night that she had heard that the president might be in Minnesota but hadn't received confirmation of the trip from White House officials.
But a trip to Minnesota would make sense, she said, because Obama has used Minnesota as a "shining example" of health care services. Specifically, Obama has cited the Mayo Clinic in Rochester as a system that works, praising its integrated system as an example of efficient, coordinated care.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
McCollum sounds out health care friends and foes
A polite but passionate town hall crowd has its share of reform critics
By Bill Salisbury
bsalisbury@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 08/31/2009
In sharp contrast to the angry protesters disrupting meetings elsewhere across the land, the people who got into U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum's forum on health reform Monday night in St. Paul kept their cool.
McCollum's 90-minute public meeting at Macalester College was a civil affair. Audience members asked their questions and stated their positions politely and often passionately, but there was no shouting or disruption.
Based on the signs they carried, the crowd packing the Weyerhaeuser Chapel appeared to overwhelmingly support President Barack Obama's health care overhaul plan. An overflow crowd that McCollum's staff estimated at nearly 400 listened to the forum from speakers on the chapel lawn.
While it was largely a friendly crowd, the five-term Democratic congresswoman from St. Paul got an earful from opponents of the Democratic health bills now pending in Congress and from proponents who argued lawmakers aren't going far enough to change the system.
Critics included Democrats and political independents.
A woman who identified herself as Susan from Mendota Heights said she has been an active Democrat, but she opposed the bill because of the enormous debt the nation would incur to pay for it.
"I'm an independent, and I detest this bill," said Bob, of St. Paul, who warned it would add trillions to the national debt.
"We're in an economic crisis," he said. "We need to get our country solvent first."
McCollum didn't address the debt issue directly, but in her opening remarks, she said, "We need to pay for reforms with efficiencies, expanded preventive care that saves money and cutting excessive profits out of the system, not more deficit spending."
Most critics zeroed in on the dangers of government taking control of health care.
"This bill is more government, more cost and less choice," said Todd, a small-business owner from St. Paul. He urged McCollum to change direction and give consumers more freedom to choose their own health insurance.
Joe, who called himself a "loyal, conservative Republican" from White Bear Lake, warned that while corporations providing health care can't take your property, liberty or money, government can.
Small-business owner Dave, of Oakdale, asserted every individual should be responsible for purchasing his or her own insurance.
"This government involvement is driving me wild," he said.
McCollum didn't respond to each anti-government statement, but at the start of the meeting she argued the U.S. health system is broken when 60 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured, when the system costs twice as much per person as any other country but ranks 37th in results and when insurance companies are canceling coverage and "dumping the sick."
She supports a government-run insurance program, called the "public option," that she said would increase competition in the marketplace, hold down premium costs and make insurance affordable for all Americans.
Bonnie said she read the Democratic bill moving through the House and said it "made it look like I couldn't keep my health insurance ... that I'd have to take the public option."
That's not true, McCollum said. The bill would not force anyone onto government-run insurance.
"I will not vote for any bill that requires people to take a public plan," she said.
From the other side of the debate, the congresswoman was told Democrats were not fighting hard enough for health care reform or going far enough in pursuing change.
Lydia, of St. Paul, criticized them for allowing their conservative opponents to take control of the debate.
"I'm disappointed that Democrats are not standing up and being strong," she said.
The opponents are noisier, McCollum acknowledged, "but we're trying to do this in a very thoughtful way."
A man who identified himself as a doctor at a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital said the VA system is proof government-run health care works well. He got a long round of applause when he encouraged McCollum to "support a system like that for all Americans."
When the forum ended, she thanked the audience for a "thoughtful exchange of ideas."
The tone contrasted sharply with Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann's town hall Thursday in Lake Elmo, where protesters tried to shout her down and the congresswoman's supporters drowned out their disruptions.
By Bill Salisbury
bsalisbury@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 08/31/2009
In sharp contrast to the angry protesters disrupting meetings elsewhere across the land, the people who got into U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum's forum on health reform Monday night in St. Paul kept their cool.
McCollum's 90-minute public meeting at Macalester College was a civil affair. Audience members asked their questions and stated their positions politely and often passionately, but there was no shouting or disruption.
Based on the signs they carried, the crowd packing the Weyerhaeuser Chapel appeared to overwhelmingly support President Barack Obama's health care overhaul plan. An overflow crowd that McCollum's staff estimated at nearly 400 listened to the forum from speakers on the chapel lawn.
While it was largely a friendly crowd, the five-term Democratic congresswoman from St. Paul got an earful from opponents of the Democratic health bills now pending in Congress and from proponents who argued lawmakers aren't going far enough to change the system.
Critics included Democrats and political independents.
A woman who identified herself as Susan from Mendota Heights said she has been an active Democrat, but she opposed the bill because of the enormous debt the nation would incur to pay for it.
"I'm an independent, and I detest this bill," said Bob, of St. Paul, who warned it would add trillions to the national debt.
"We're in an economic crisis," he said. "We need to get our country solvent first."
McCollum didn't address the debt issue directly, but in her opening remarks, she said, "We need to pay for reforms with efficiencies, expanded preventive care that saves money and cutting excessive profits out of the system, not more deficit spending."
Most critics zeroed in on the dangers of government taking control of health care.
"This bill is more government, more cost and less choice," said Todd, a small-business owner from St. Paul. He urged McCollum to change direction and give consumers more freedom to choose their own health insurance.
Joe, who called himself a "loyal, conservative Republican" from White Bear Lake, warned that while corporations providing health care can't take your property, liberty or money, government can.
Small-business owner Dave, of Oakdale, asserted every individual should be responsible for purchasing his or her own insurance.
"This government involvement is driving me wild," he said.
McCollum didn't respond to each anti-government statement, but at the start of the meeting she argued the U.S. health system is broken when 60 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured, when the system costs twice as much per person as any other country but ranks 37th in results and when insurance companies are canceling coverage and "dumping the sick."
She supports a government-run insurance program, called the "public option," that she said would increase competition in the marketplace, hold down premium costs and make insurance affordable for all Americans.
Bonnie said she read the Democratic bill moving through the House and said it "made it look like I couldn't keep my health insurance ... that I'd have to take the public option."
That's not true, McCollum said. The bill would not force anyone onto government-run insurance.
"I will not vote for any bill that requires people to take a public plan," she said.
From the other side of the debate, the congresswoman was told Democrats were not fighting hard enough for health care reform or going far enough in pursuing change.
Lydia, of St. Paul, criticized them for allowing their conservative opponents to take control of the debate.
"I'm disappointed that Democrats are not standing up and being strong," she said.
The opponents are noisier, McCollum acknowledged, "but we're trying to do this in a very thoughtful way."
A man who identified himself as a doctor at a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital said the VA system is proof government-run health care works well. He got a long round of applause when he encouraged McCollum to "support a system like that for all Americans."
When the forum ended, she thanked the audience for a "thoughtful exchange of ideas."
The tone contrasted sharply with Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann's town hall Thursday in Lake Elmo, where protesters tried to shout her down and the congresswoman's supporters drowned out their disruptions.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Town hall glitch blamed on server
More people than expected called in
By Bill Salisbury
bsalisbury@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 08/26/2009
Some Minnesotans who registered for Sen. Amy Klobuchar's Sunday night teleconference on health care were left out of the call and, boy, are they mad.
Sixteen of them contacted a Pioneer Press reporter to complain. Most of those said they either never received their expected call or they got a recorded message from Klobuchar saying she was sorry they missed her call.
That aroused suspicions.
"I think they weeded me out," Roy of Shoreview said in a voice mail.
Klobuchar spokesman Linden Zakula said Tuesday that a server failure at the teleconference service caused the glitch.
"We had more people on than we expected," he said. Klobuchar said she received 10,200 registrations.
Zakula said a "few dozen people" called Klobuchar's office to complain about being excluded from the call. Her staff e-mailed those people an electronic link to an audio recording of the teleconference, he said.
Zakula added that Klobuchar's staff is taking steps to prevent similar problems in the future. "We want to make this better for the next time," he said.
Klobuchar has not scheduled any more teleconferences.
By Bill Salisbury
bsalisbury@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 08/26/2009
Some Minnesotans who registered for Sen. Amy Klobuchar's Sunday night teleconference on health care were left out of the call and, boy, are they mad.
Sixteen of them contacted a Pioneer Press reporter to complain. Most of those said they either never received their expected call or they got a recorded message from Klobuchar saying she was sorry they missed her call.
That aroused suspicions.
"I think they weeded me out," Roy of Shoreview said in a voice mail.
Klobuchar spokesman Linden Zakula said Tuesday that a server failure at the teleconference service caused the glitch.
"We had more people on than we expected," he said. Klobuchar said she received 10,200 registrations.
Zakula said a "few dozen people" called Klobuchar's office to complain about being excluded from the call. Her staff e-mailed those people an electronic link to an audio recording of the teleconference, he said.
Zakula added that Klobuchar's staff is taking steps to prevent similar problems in the future. "We want to make this better for the next time," he said.
Klobuchar has not scheduled any more teleconferences.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Walz hosts a noisy, yet rather civil town hall
Rep. Tim Walz met the jeers and cheers head-on in Mankato. Points were sometimes shouted, but in the end all applauded.
By WARREN WOLFE, Star Tribune
Last update: August 20, 2009
MANKATO - About 700 feisty and energized people crammed into a high school auditorium Thursday night to tell First District Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., that he should -- and shouldn't -- support legislation to overhaul the nation's health care system.
At times, the town hall audience erupted with applause and boos -- often simultaneously. Questioners supported a government-backed option to private insurance, decried profit in health care, took a side step into energy policy, bemoaned that millions have no health coverage today and urged that the congressional health proposals be completely scrapped.
Though the session was scheduled to last two hours, Walz let it run an extra half-hour because dozens of speakers still were lined up behind microphones as the two-hour mark neared.
It was Walz's first in-person town hall meeting on health care, although he held a "tele-town-hall meeting" Tuesday, during which people could call in to ask questions of him and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Walz's staff said he likely will hold a similar town meeting on health care next month in Rochester.
"It's important to be here," Gloria Platz, of Springfield, Minn., said as she waited for two hours with her husband, Albert. "I'm worried that some of this money is going to pay for abortions and that our Medicare health care may be rationed."
The meeting Thursday was far noisier than the teleconference, with a lot of arguments both for and against making major changes in health care. But it was more civil than many similar sessions around the country, which have seen lawmakers shouted down or have degenerated into mutual name-calling.
"Nobody came here to change their mind," said Terrence Cunningham, 54, an organic farmer from south of Albert Lea. "Either people know we've got a broken health care system that should have been fixed years ago, like I do," he said with a smile, "or they're uninformed and want to stay that way."
Waving a copy of the Constitution, Mankato insurance agent Jerry Longstreet said the founding document "does not say you can take over health care, the banks, auto dealers ..." The shouting and applause drowned out the rest of his sentence. "... How can you do Obama-care?"
If you buy that, Walz shouted out, "then we have to drop [veterans] VA medical coverage and Medicare, along with the National Park System and a lot more." The Constitution, Walz said, says Congress is responsible to for the country's "common defense and welfare, and that's what we're doing."
People started lining up three hours before the town hall meeting began at 6 p.m. at Mankato East High School. After an initial half-hour during which nearly every question and answer was interrupted by yelled comments, hoots, applause and laughter, the audience began to settle down after the moderator, former Republican U.S. Sen. David Durenberger, urged them to "mute it down a little so people can talk." At the end of the meeting, all of those left in the room applauded.
"This was bigger and noisier than the town hall meeting [Seventh District Rep] had,'' Durenberger after the meeting. "There were no new questions, but there certainly was passion -- passion like you normally don't see at forums like this. It's good to see people care, even when they're noisy, about health care policy,'' a topic on which he is a national expert.
"If victory is seen as doing nothing, recognize we'll be in exactly in the same place we are today," Walz said at the start of the forum. "The status quo is not sustainable. Since 2001, the average family insurance premium is up 74 percent where income is up 17 percent. We can't keep going that way."
After one questioner said he's concerned that "doing something may cause more damage than doing nothing," Walz said, "that's exactly right. We know we will be in terrible trouble if we don't do something. Something worse would be even more disastrous. We can't do that."
Walz and Peterson, both Blue Dog Democrat who generally are fiscal conservatives and thus potential "no" votes against the current bills before Congress, have been the target of Republican Party ads urging constituents asking them to oppose health system overhaul. Walz said the ads are misleading and designed to scare people.
Warren Wolfe • 612-673-7253
By WARREN WOLFE, Star Tribune
Last update: August 20, 2009
MANKATO - About 700 feisty and energized people crammed into a high school auditorium Thursday night to tell First District Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., that he should -- and shouldn't -- support legislation to overhaul the nation's health care system.
At times, the town hall audience erupted with applause and boos -- often simultaneously. Questioners supported a government-backed option to private insurance, decried profit in health care, took a side step into energy policy, bemoaned that millions have no health coverage today and urged that the congressional health proposals be completely scrapped.
Though the session was scheduled to last two hours, Walz let it run an extra half-hour because dozens of speakers still were lined up behind microphones as the two-hour mark neared.
It was Walz's first in-person town hall meeting on health care, although he held a "tele-town-hall meeting" Tuesday, during which people could call in to ask questions of him and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Walz's staff said he likely will hold a similar town meeting on health care next month in Rochester.
"It's important to be here," Gloria Platz, of Springfield, Minn., said as she waited for two hours with her husband, Albert. "I'm worried that some of this money is going to pay for abortions and that our Medicare health care may be rationed."
The meeting Thursday was far noisier than the teleconference, with a lot of arguments both for and against making major changes in health care. But it was more civil than many similar sessions around the country, which have seen lawmakers shouted down or have degenerated into mutual name-calling.
"Nobody came here to change their mind," said Terrence Cunningham, 54, an organic farmer from south of Albert Lea. "Either people know we've got a broken health care system that should have been fixed years ago, like I do," he said with a smile, "or they're uninformed and want to stay that way."
Waving a copy of the Constitution, Mankato insurance agent Jerry Longstreet said the founding document "does not say you can take over health care, the banks, auto dealers ..." The shouting and applause drowned out the rest of his sentence. "... How can you do Obama-care?"
If you buy that, Walz shouted out, "then we have to drop [veterans] VA medical coverage and Medicare, along with the National Park System and a lot more." The Constitution, Walz said, says Congress is responsible to for the country's "common defense and welfare, and that's what we're doing."
People started lining up three hours before the town hall meeting began at 6 p.m. at Mankato East High School. After an initial half-hour during which nearly every question and answer was interrupted by yelled comments, hoots, applause and laughter, the audience began to settle down after the moderator, former Republican U.S. Sen. David Durenberger, urged them to "mute it down a little so people can talk." At the end of the meeting, all of those left in the room applauded.
"This was bigger and noisier than the town hall meeting [Seventh District Rep] had,'' Durenberger after the meeting. "There were no new questions, but there certainly was passion -- passion like you normally don't see at forums like this. It's good to see people care, even when they're noisy, about health care policy,'' a topic on which he is a national expert.
"If victory is seen as doing nothing, recognize we'll be in exactly in the same place we are today," Walz said at the start of the forum. "The status quo is not sustainable. Since 2001, the average family insurance premium is up 74 percent where income is up 17 percent. We can't keep going that way."
After one questioner said he's concerned that "doing something may cause more damage than doing nothing," Walz said, "that's exactly right. We know we will be in terrible trouble if we don't do something. Something worse would be even more disastrous. We can't do that."
Walz and Peterson, both Blue Dog Democrat who generally are fiscal conservatives and thus potential "no" votes against the current bills before Congress, have been the target of Republican Party ads urging constituents asking them to oppose health system overhaul. Walz said the ads are misleading and designed to scare people.
Warren Wolfe • 612-673-7253
Outside the forum, signs of passion
Crowd was just as vocal outside
By Robb Murray
Free Press Staff Writer
MANKATO —
Flanked by the Teamsters on one side and a guy carrying a “Live Free or Die!” sign on the other, Matt Johansen stood quietly among the group of “protesters” outside Mankato East High School Thursday night.
A Waseca resident, Johansen works in Brown Printing’s collections department. And he’s seriously opposed to the government getting into the health care business. That’s why he came to the town hall meeting held at East Thursday. To let people know.
“We do need reform, I’m adamant about that,” he said. But, from what he’s heard about the government’s intentions, he’s not interested in Obama’s or any other politician’s plans.
One thing he was happy about, though, was the fact that his congressman held a public meeting. He says he wrote a letter that was published in the Waseca County News saying Walz should hold a town hall meeting like representatives in other parts of the country.
The day after his letter was published, he says, Walz announced plans for the Thursday’s meeting.
“He listened,” Johansen said.
Johansen wasn’t the only guy with a sign Thursday. The Teamsters — clad in black T-shirts, carrying uniform signs, their semi positioned imposingly in the lot — stood like guards while holding signs with various messages including, “Unfair: Premiums rising three times faster than wages.”
On the other was a man angry with the Teamsters and carrying a signs that said “Live free or die!” and “No Obama care.”
“Why are you here?” he was asked.
“Haven’t you seen what they’ve been doing to people all over the country?”
“No.”
“Well then you’re blind, I can’t talk to you,” he said.
Other signs included: “Abortion is not health care.”
“It’s my life — Extend it, don’t end it.”
“Obama care is a nightmare.”
“Stop government interference in your health care.”
“Kill the health care bill! I choose freedom, I choose my health care plan.”
Perhaps the oddest sign is one that has been showing up at town hall meetings across the country. It is a head shot of Obama. Painted under his nose is a Hitler mustache.
It reads, “I’ve changed.” It was produced by LaRouchePAC.org.
Not everyone came with a sign.
Kim Georgiana of Mankato came because she’s opposed to public health care being offered to illegal immigrants. And Jeff Ambrose of Eden Prairie said he’ll support the administration’s efforts as soon as every American gets the same health coverage as Walz and other congressmen get.
He called the town hall meeting “the cartoon version of the road to serfdom.”
Nearly 750 were allowed inside, and police estimated another 200 were not let in. A large group huddled around the entrance after being turned away, and many stayed until the event was over.
By Robb Murray
Free Press Staff Writer
MANKATO —
Flanked by the Teamsters on one side and a guy carrying a “Live Free or Die!” sign on the other, Matt Johansen stood quietly among the group of “protesters” outside Mankato East High School Thursday night.
A Waseca resident, Johansen works in Brown Printing’s collections department. And he’s seriously opposed to the government getting into the health care business. That’s why he came to the town hall meeting held at East Thursday. To let people know.
“We do need reform, I’m adamant about that,” he said. But, from what he’s heard about the government’s intentions, he’s not interested in Obama’s or any other politician’s plans.
One thing he was happy about, though, was the fact that his congressman held a public meeting. He says he wrote a letter that was published in the Waseca County News saying Walz should hold a town hall meeting like representatives in other parts of the country.
The day after his letter was published, he says, Walz announced plans for the Thursday’s meeting.
“He listened,” Johansen said.
Johansen wasn’t the only guy with a sign Thursday. The Teamsters — clad in black T-shirts, carrying uniform signs, their semi positioned imposingly in the lot — stood like guards while holding signs with various messages including, “Unfair: Premiums rising three times faster than wages.”
On the other was a man angry with the Teamsters and carrying a signs that said “Live free or die!” and “No Obama care.”
“Why are you here?” he was asked.
“Haven’t you seen what they’ve been doing to people all over the country?”
“No.”
“Well then you’re blind, I can’t talk to you,” he said.
Other signs included: “Abortion is not health care.”
“It’s my life — Extend it, don’t end it.”
“Obama care is a nightmare.”
“Stop government interference in your health care.”
“Kill the health care bill! I choose freedom, I choose my health care plan.”
Perhaps the oddest sign is one that has been showing up at town hall meetings across the country. It is a head shot of Obama. Painted under his nose is a Hitler mustache.
It reads, “I’ve changed.” It was produced by LaRouchePAC.org.
Not everyone came with a sign.
Kim Georgiana of Mankato came because she’s opposed to public health care being offered to illegal immigrants. And Jeff Ambrose of Eden Prairie said he’ll support the administration’s efforts as soon as every American gets the same health coverage as Walz and other congressmen get.
He called the town hall meeting “the cartoon version of the road to serfdom.”
Nearly 750 were allowed inside, and police estimated another 200 were not let in. A large group huddled around the entrance after being turned away, and many stayed until the event was over.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Focus on pluses, Berglin urges
State Sen. Linda Berglin pushes back at critics of national health care proposals. Some governors "are just ignorant" about details of what's being attempted, she said.
By WARREN WOLFE, Star Tribune
Last update: August 19, 2009 - 7:42 AM
A federal overhaul of the nation's health care system "is going to be good for Minnesota, and I'm getting a little tired of people seizing on the problems instead of the possibilities," the state's chief legislative expert on health care policy said Tuesday.
"Of course it's complex. Of course it's possible to get it wrong -- only do half the job, for instance," said Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis.
Berglin spoke after a hearing of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee where two health policy analysts discussed the effects of likely federal action. Her comments came after two weeks when congressional proposals to revamp the health insurance system have been buffeted by skeptics at town hall meetings across the state and nation.
Berglin, who chairs the committee, was a chief architect of a 2007 law that launched state health care reforms that are still being put in place -- and being watched by federal officials, the two health experts testified. Over the next few years, they said, Minnesota's efforts could improve the targeting and coordination of medical care to improve Minnesotans' health and hold down cost increases.
Minnesota's experience with reform and cost control will make it "a player at the table" as federal officials change the system and perhaps experiment with ways to improve Medicare quality and costs, said Jean Abraham, a health policy expert at the University of Minnesota. She returned in May after a year as senior economist for health on the President's Council of Economic Advisers. Her job was drafting health reform policy.
Abraham and Lynn Blewett, another health policy analyst at the university, said federal proposals are in such flux -- in some cases not even in bill form -- that it's impossible to predict what will emerge or exactly how it will affect Minnesota.
State's experience can help
Just as Minnesota was a model for national legislation providing health care coverage for low-income children, "so too Minnesota's experience can help people in Washington refine how health reform might work," said Blewett. She heads the State Health Access Data Assistance Center, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to provide policy analysis and technical help to states and federal agencies.
"There's room for criticism" in the health care debate, Berglin admitted. "For instance, if we try to reform the system without addressing health care costs, that's not going to do the job."
Both at the meeting and in an interview afterward, Berglin bristled at some "uninformed distractions" in the debate.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty and other governors who worry that states will face impossible costs with expanded Medicaid health coverage for the poor "don't seem to realize that the federal government will pick up most of that cost,'' she said.
"There will be costs, and there will be savings,'' she said in an interview. "I don't think [the governors are] playing politics. I think they're just ignorant" about the proposals.
In much the same vein, Berglin challenged fellow committee member Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley. At one point during the hearing, Koering said, "I don't know how we're ever going to pay" for a government-sponsored "public option" health care plan to compete with health insurers.
"Senator Koering, state employees have a public plan, where you have your [health] insurance," she said. "How's that working out for you?"
Warren Wolfe • 612-673-7253
By WARREN WOLFE, Star Tribune
Last update: August 19, 2009 - 7:42 AM
A federal overhaul of the nation's health care system "is going to be good for Minnesota, and I'm getting a little tired of people seizing on the problems instead of the possibilities," the state's chief legislative expert on health care policy said Tuesday.
"Of course it's complex. Of course it's possible to get it wrong -- only do half the job, for instance," said Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis.
Berglin spoke after a hearing of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee where two health policy analysts discussed the effects of likely federal action. Her comments came after two weeks when congressional proposals to revamp the health insurance system have been buffeted by skeptics at town hall meetings across the state and nation.
Berglin, who chairs the committee, was a chief architect of a 2007 law that launched state health care reforms that are still being put in place -- and being watched by federal officials, the two health experts testified. Over the next few years, they said, Minnesota's efforts could improve the targeting and coordination of medical care to improve Minnesotans' health and hold down cost increases.
Minnesota's experience with reform and cost control will make it "a player at the table" as federal officials change the system and perhaps experiment with ways to improve Medicare quality and costs, said Jean Abraham, a health policy expert at the University of Minnesota. She returned in May after a year as senior economist for health on the President's Council of Economic Advisers. Her job was drafting health reform policy.
Abraham and Lynn Blewett, another health policy analyst at the university, said federal proposals are in such flux -- in some cases not even in bill form -- that it's impossible to predict what will emerge or exactly how it will affect Minnesota.
State's experience can help
Just as Minnesota was a model for national legislation providing health care coverage for low-income children, "so too Minnesota's experience can help people in Washington refine how health reform might work," said Blewett. She heads the State Health Access Data Assistance Center, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to provide policy analysis and technical help to states and federal agencies.
"There's room for criticism" in the health care debate, Berglin admitted. "For instance, if we try to reform the system without addressing health care costs, that's not going to do the job."
Both at the meeting and in an interview afterward, Berglin bristled at some "uninformed distractions" in the debate.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty and other governors who worry that states will face impossible costs with expanded Medicaid health coverage for the poor "don't seem to realize that the federal government will pick up most of that cost,'' she said.
"There will be costs, and there will be savings,'' she said in an interview. "I don't think [the governors are] playing politics. I think they're just ignorant" about the proposals.
In much the same vein, Berglin challenged fellow committee member Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley. At one point during the hearing, Koering said, "I don't know how we're ever going to pay" for a government-sponsored "public option" health care plan to compete with health insurers.
"Senator Koering, state employees have a public plan, where you have your [health] insurance," she said. "How's that working out for you?"
Warren Wolfe • 612-673-7253
Senator Klobuchar to host Tele-Town Hall meeting
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar will be hosting a live statewide tele-town hall meeting to discuss making health care more affordable and answer questions from her constituents. Joining her will be Dr. Denis Cortese, CEO of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and Mary Wakefield, the highest ranking nurse in the federal government.
The tele-town hall will be held on Sunday, August 23, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. Central Time. Those wishing to participate can register for the call by registering below.
The deadline for registering for the call is Friday, August 21, 2009 at 12:00pm. Those who register will receive an automated reminder phone call on Friday evening and then a call on Sunday to be joined to the call.
Members of the public with questions regarding this event should call Senator Klobuchar's office at: 1-888-224-9043
To register at her website click here
The tele-town hall will be held on Sunday, August 23, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. Central Time. Those wishing to participate can register for the call by registering below.
The deadline for registering for the call is Friday, August 21, 2009 at 12:00pm. Those who register will receive an automated reminder phone call on Friday evening and then a call on Sunday to be joined to the call.
Members of the public with questions regarding this event should call Senator Klobuchar's office at: 1-888-224-9043
To register at her website click here
Rally and Canvass with Representatives McCollum and Ellison
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Time: 10:00am - 12:00pm
Location: DFL State Headquarters
Street:255 E Plato Blvd
Phone: 6512516318
Email: ofaminnesota@dnc.org
As Minnesotans, we know we need health insurance reform. We are sick of a few loud people dominating this debate.
Please join us for a rally in support of reform. The rally will be followed by a canvass, where we will hit the streets and talk to our friends and neighbors about the need for reform this year!
Featured speakers include:Congresswoman Betty McCollum Congressman Keith Ellison St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak Representative Erin Murphy
Time: 10:00am - 12:00pm
Location: DFL State Headquarters
Street:255 E Plato Blvd
Phone: 6512516318
Email: ofaminnesota@dnc.org
As Minnesotans, we know we need health insurance reform. We are sick of a few loud people dominating this debate.
Please join us for a rally in support of reform. The rally will be followed by a canvass, where we will hit the streets and talk to our friends and neighbors about the need for reform this year!
Featured speakers include:Congresswoman Betty McCollum Congressman Keith Ellison St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak Representative Erin Murphy
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