Idaho Mountain Express: Minnick talks health care in Ketchum

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Friday, August 14, 2009

Minnick talks health care in Ketchum

Idaho’s Democratic congressman defends voting record

By JON DUVAL
Express Staff Writer

Rep. Walt Minnick, D-Idaho, addressed about 50 people in Ketchum on Wednesday and defended his voting record since he took office in November. Minnick has become known for siding against his party on a number of contentious issues, including health care reform, climate change programs and federal stimulus funding. Photo by David N. Seelig

Rep. Walt Minnick, D-Idaho, did his best to defuse antipathy to his voting record at the beginning of an open meeting in Ketchum on Wednesday.

Speaking to more than 50 people assembled at Smoky Mountain Pizza, Minnick, the sole Democrat in Idaho's four-member congressional delegation, defended his stance on contentious issues such as the federal stimulus package and health care reform.

Minnick said his record of voting against his party line is a reflection of the desires of his constituents in Idaho's 1st Congressional District, which includes a portion of Boise, as well as Coeur d'Alene, Nampa and Meridian.

Minnick said the large Republican base in his district has led him to be considered the "most independent" member of his party.

"I very much want Obama to be the most successful president of our lifetime," Minnick said. "But I want the best laws possible, not just those from the Democratic left. We need Republican buy-in to create permanent solutions."

After his brief introduction, Minnick listened to questions and comments from the public, which largely focused on health care reform, but also touched on immigration.

Minnick, who opposes the Democrats' health care reform bill, said he has a different idea of how the system would best work.

"The government should set the rules of the road and then let private business do the work," he said.

Minnick said that if a new health care bill were able to establish rules for universal health care, ensuring that access is not dependent on salary or preconditions, more competition would develop among health insurance providers in Idaho.

More importantly, though, Minnick said the best solution would likely come from a bipartisan bill that would help lower the cost of health care. To that end, he agreed with Sun Valley resident Todd Morgan, who said any health care bill should include tort reform as a way to keep doctors from ordering unnecessary tests as a means of protecting themselves against possible malpractice litigation.

That didn't keep some members of the public from criticizing Minnick from standing in the way of a quick overhaul of the system.

Gini Ballou, vice chairwoman of Blaine County Democrats, said skyrocketing insurance costs are putting her family, and millions of Americans, at risk of not being able to afford health care. Ballou argued that reform is needed immediately, and that Minnick should be on board with his own party.

After the meeting, Nancy Masner-Whiton, chairwoman of Blaine County Democrats, said she was frustrated that there wasn't more discussion of the Democratic platform.

Masner-Whiton contended that about a third of the audience was Republican, and with only an hour and a half, the Democrats' concerns were not sufficiently discussed. She based her estimate on seeing people she recognized.

"We really appreciate Walt coming, especially because he knows that there are people here that are not happy with him," Masner-Whiton said. "But it was frustrating because we supported him during his election and were looking forward to asking him specific things and didn't get the chance."

Ketchum City Councilman Larry Helzel, who also supported Minnick's election bid, was less critical, saying Minnick's understanding of the severity of the national deficit is the basis for his fiscal conservatism.

"He's trying not to make the deficit worse," Helzel said. "Despite the wrangling over health care, we can't take our eye off the main message, which is that he's working hard for the people of Idaho."

Jon Duval: jduval@mtexpress.com

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The comments below are from the readers of mtexpress.com and in no way represent the views of Express Publishing Inc.

Jerry L – Ketchum, ID

08/17/09 - 18:53

Lets see - less than a buck to mail a letter, arrives in 3 days - FedX, ahh, $23 for 1 day, $15 for 2. Yet the PO must have APPROVAL from citizens (?) like you to bump the cost to market value. Only reason its "loses" $$, ie YOU get to mail items for under cost, is because they cant charge market value because their rates are congressionally approved. If you cant see the logic in having certain things run by the Gov't, then you should live in perhaps Somalia - no gov't, no pesky laws, but, awww, no mail either.

And good to know when I am lying in a bed 90% dead and wanting to end MY life - note - MY life - I can count on fools, oops, citizens like you to research 1960 Harpers Articles, and misinterpret laws that work GREAT in ORE. Wait, you have a 1947 Playboy article showing tidal waves of euthanisia are LIKELY? You are right - better the US insists on keeping me hooked to life support in pain and sucking my families finances dry, not to mention Medicare.

And finally, to think a "for profit" company should be charged with insuring your medical well being, GREAT idea. Lets see, pay less claims, make more profit - hey, lets deny them all - deny a legit claim, make them fight it , and eventually they go away or die. Yea, private insuraance is GREAT. Wait, you have a pre-existing condition - ohhh, we are sorry - just cant help you. Better go to Canada or France.

I looked up a smattering of references in the bill you laboriously listed - virtually all are nada but distortions and misthruths based on out of context references. You must have lots of time at home awaiting your next Marxist unemployment check.

But fine, lets just CANCEL Medicare - and for that matter Social Security - but wait, oh, dont cancel MY benefit, I DESERVE medical care. But you youger folks are unable to get it because of age, naaa, sorry, its unconstituitonal. You are all socialists - I am just on Medicare and Social Security.

Right wing sheeple are everywhere.

Reply to Jerry L

08/18/09 - 00:14

that guy is a nutjob. he sees black helicopters. most of us are just worried how we are going to pay for healthcare. people who bring up subjects like abortion and killing old people are just trying to steer away from the real issues of healthcare reform.

Reply to Jerry L

London

08/18/09 - 08:47

There happens to be both dems and repubs across this nation demanding this plan be rewritten.. The interpretations are there and many are pointing to them.. Do you have a copy ? Did you read it ? Do you understand legal terms used and open holes for abuse when you see them, obviously not..If you want socialized health care have at it.. Just don't force it on people who do not need or want it.. I don't need it, I never will need it, I don't collect un-employment Insurance either, never did, never will..As well what will you do when social insecurity stops coming ? As well, I will never need that nonsense either.. It's a damn shame when nut jobs are more fiscally responsible than the " politically Correct " arrogant peanut gallery...Now then, what ever shall I do today, dirt bike, mountain bike, hike, or horse..Ahha I'll go fishing, Ta ta for now..

London

08/15/09 - 18:23

The Proof! It's All True: Euthanasia Is The Purpose of Section 1233!

The authors of 1233 are Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer and "Compassion and Choices," formerly called the Hemlock Society. Blumenauer, a congressman from the first state to have legalized physician-assisted suicide, is a vocal advocate for voluntary euthanasia and apparently involuntary euthanasia as well. He took credit for 1233 in the Huffington Post of July 28, writing, "I know a little bit about this section because it's a bill which I wrote which was incorporated into the overall legislation." Blumenauer's website attests that he wrote an amicus brief in support of "assisted suicide" for the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005. It also links to a lengthy, grisly Harper's article of 1960, which comes down firmly for the whole program of Nazi-like euthanasia, voluntary AND involuntary, against the aged, the handicapped,— you name it!

The other co-author is "Compassion and Choices," formerly known as the Hemlock Society. They wrote July 27 that "Compassion and Choices has worked tirelessly with supportive members of Congress to include in proposed reform legislation a provision requiring Medicare to cover patient consultation with their doctors about end-of-life choice." "Compassion and Choices" characterizes itself as part of the "Aid-in-Dying Movement." Its home-page tells readers to pass healthcare reform with 1233.

The predecessor Hemlock Society was long notorious for suicide and euthanasia advocacy, and for actual encouragement and practical "help" in suicide. Its origins are in Britain's Voluntary Euthanasia Society, which founded the World Federation of Right to Die Societies in 1980, and sent London Times reporter Derek Humphry to the U.S. to found the Hemlock Society here. ( In America)

Reply to London

tom

08/16/09 - 03:28

Greg - Great source for that info - you ripped that right off from Lyndon LaRouche's web site almost word for word.

Tin foil hat time again.

Reply to London

London

08/16/09 - 10:09

This pravda paper keeps deleting the links tommy..who's greg?

"How can a private company compete against the government? My answer is that if the private insurance companies are providing a good bargain, and if the public option has to be self-sustaining, meaning that taxpayers aren't subsidizing it, but it has to run on charging premiums and providing good services, and a good network of doctors, just like private insurers do, then I think private insurers should be able to compete.

"They do it all the time. If you think about it, UPS and Fed-Ex are doing just fine. It's the Post Office that's always having problems.... there is nothing inevitable about this somehow destroying the private marketplace. As long as it is not set up where the government is being subsidized by the taxpayers so that even if they are providing a good deal, we keep having to pony up more and more money."

Now, these comments are nothing short of incredible. The Post Office has been on the loser list for many decades. Most recently, it has been included on the GAO's high-risk list, increasing its debt to $10.2 billion and incurring a cash shortfall of $1 billion.

Note that the post office is not being shut down for this mess. On the contrary, it is being subsidized not only with tax dollars but, most importantly, with laws. Title 18 (I.83.1696) says that "Whoever establishes any private express for the conveyance of letters or packets" can be fined and jailed. Moreover, the law (39.I.6.606) says that any letter delivered by unlawful means can be seized and stolen by the government. It is immune from antitrust action and criminal liability.

The right path to health-care reform is the market path (no subsidies, no monopolies such as drug patents, no licensure, no anything) that tends toward universal distribution at very low prices and relentless improvement in service. The wrong path is to make health care run the same way as the post office. Obama seems to favor the latter path, even though he admits that it is the least well-performing one. This is surely the definition of fanaticism. If the mobs aren't angry, they should be.

Reply to London

08/16/09 - 16:49

tin foil must be a big seller in parts of this country....

Reply to London

London

08/17/09 - 07:38

Actually a bigger seller is don't look before crossing the street you'll be just fine..

Reply to London

Anon.

08/17/09 - 14:58

It's ALUMINUM foil. I can't find tin foil anywhere. It is no longer used as it makes food taste like tin. It is actually a good thing to use as a Faraday cage. I would recommend it to anyone using a cell phone next to their head. en.wikipedia.org . God, I need a life ...

08/15/09 - 15:43

mr minnick , do u have a plan for cutting healthcare costs?
not that i think this is the plan for us. but i hope these guys are doing what they were hired to do and solve these kinds of problems rather than just lazily voting no.

mpc

08/15/09 - 00:31

I want to thank Walt Minnick for doing what he thinks is right.

ugh yeah

08/14/09 - 10:30

You people are scared. Your time is up and I want some of your money and health. Thank you.

Reply to ugh yeah

Hailey Mom

08/14/09 - 11:20

I agree with cc that some changes need to be made - I just don't think the changes need to or should require tapping my income more than the gov't already does. I think we can do a lot with tort reform, allowing insurers to compete across state lines, allowing insurers to charge more for people that are obese or smoke, allowing individuals and small business to purchase insurance at a combined risk pool rate, and making it tax deductible (although that only works for the 50% or so of people that pay federal income tax in the first place...). I have witnessed many of our country's uninsured - they have worked for me. They could afford health insurance if they wanted it, but instead buy new cars, flat screen TV's or work part time to pursue their hobbies and passions, or bear more children. Those are absolutely their rights and their choice. What I object to is now they come to me (ie a taxpayer) whining about not being able to afford health insurance or medical care and somehow that's supposed to be my responsibility!

Reply to ugh yeah

08/14/09 - 13:53

hailey mom, u are already paying when they go to the hospital emergency room or have to have emergency surgery. hospital expenses are OUTRAGEOUS. i was listening to a newscast about it......a lady had to go in to change the battery on her pacemaker and had to pay tens of thousands of dollars!!! the hospital has to pay for the uninsured some way. and then there is all of that equipment they have to buy......keeping expenses down is the key to the whole thing. also fraud on the part of the providers.....performing procedures that ar not needed ...so docs can make more money....ALL OF THE THINGS CAUSING HEALTHCARE TO SKYROCKET SHOULD BE LOOKED AT.

Reply to ugh yeah

mpc

08/15/09 - 00:26

Are you feeling sick or are you feeling guilty?

Hailey Mom

08/14/09 - 10:12

In the event this nightmare of a bill passes, let me tell you what the effect will be on this one small business owner. Our payroll has fluctuated with the business cycle from 3 people to 17 people and back. From $100,000 to about $800,000 over a 10 year period. As with many businesses in this small valley, some years we make 6 figures, some years we lose 6 figures. We cannot afford another "fixed" expense int he form of a healthcare payroll tax. We will simply keep our payroll to under $250k - that's all there is to it. Sorry all you potential job seekers out there....

Reply to Hailey Mom

08/14/09 - 10:28

look at the premiums on ur health insurance. u think u are not already paying for peoples health insurance? people who have jobs but not health insurance are part of the reason health care providers charge so much. i dont know what the answer is but something has to be done about getting these people insured AND something has to be done about lowering healthcare costs. we are not getting enuf bang for our bucks in the status quo.

London

08/14/09 - 07:39

How Refreshing ! A Congressman that reads things..And understands this Health care plan is not right..

The HC Bill has so many subtle and obviously objectional elements that one must read it carefully to catch them all. More pointedly, they are written in such a way as to Pit rich against poor, old and young against one another, non-citizens against citizens, white against black, etc.

The sole objective of the legislation is to make it so objectionable, restricive, unworkable, conflict laden and costly to all citizens and America’s few remaining employers as to make it useless to all but the wealthy old whiteboys (as another means of Social/PoliicL/Economic control.

Sadly, it will divide, anger and confuse the 85% of Americans the wealthy fear most – white people like them with guns & unwilling to be so easily bought.

The only workable viable effective plan is one that expands medicare, takes employers out of the equation & allows private sector insurers, free choices, and re-educational processes in American schools which teach what goes in your mouth and what don't... Any other form of health bill is a sham and a scam !
www.youtube.com

Hidden in the over 1,000 pages of Obama’s dictatorial health plan…

Pg 22 of the HC Bill MANDATES the Government will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS WHO SELF-INSURE!!

Pg 30 Sec 123 of HC bill – THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE which decides what treatments & benefits you get.

Pg 354 Sec 1177 – Govt WILL RESTRICT ENROLLMENT of Special Needs people.

Pg 42 of HC Bill – The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HC Benefits for you.

PG 50 Section 152 in HC bill – HC WILL BE PROVIDED TO ALL NON-US CITIZENS, illegal or otherwise.

Pg 170 Lines 1-3 HC Bill- ALL NON-RESIDENT ALIENS will be exempt from individual taxes. (Resident Americans will pay)

Pg 58 HC Bill – Govt will have real-time access to individuals
finances & a National ID Healthcard will be issued.

Pg 59 HC Bill lines 21-24 Govt will have direct access to your bank accounts for electronic funds transfer, no choice.

Pg 72 Lines 8-14 Govt is creating an HC EXCHANGE to bring private HC plans under Govt control.

PG 84 Sec 203 HC bill – Govt mandates ALL benefit pkgs for private HC plans in the Exchange.

PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill – Specs. for of Benefit Levels for Plans.

Pg 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18 The Govt will use groups i.e., ACORN & Americorps to sign up individuals for Govt HC plan.

pg 124 Lines 24-25 HC No company can sue Government on price fixing. No “judicial review” against Government Monopoly.

pg 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill -DOCTORS/ AMA – The Govt will tell you what your salary will be TAX.

Pg 145 Line 15-17 All Employers MUST auto enroll employees into public option plan. NO CHOICE

Pg 126 Lines 22-25 Employers MUST pay for HC for part time employees AND their families.

Pg 149 Lines 16-24 ANY Employer with payroll 400k & above, who does not provide public option, pays 8% tax on all payroll.

pg 150 Lines 9-13 Businesses with payroll btw 251k & 400k who doesn’t provide public option pays 2-6% tax on all payroll.

Pg 167 Lines 18-23 ANY individual who doesn’t have acceptable HC according to the Govt will be taxed 2.5% of income.

Pg 195 HC Bill -officers & employees of HC Admin (GOVT) will have access to ALL Americans finances & personal records.

PG 203 Line 14-15 HC – “The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax”.

And there’s even more astonishing Marxist domination and control…

Pg 239 Line 14-24 HC Bill- Govt WILL REDUCE PHYSICIAN SERVICES for Medicaid Seniors, and low income people.

Pg 241 Line 6-8 HC Bill – Doctors, doesn’t matter what specialty you have, you’ll all be paid the same

PG 425 Lines 4-12 Govt mandates Advance Care Planning Consultations. (seniors)

Pg 425 Lines 17-19 Govt will instruct & consult regarding living wills, durable powers of atty. Mandatory!

PG 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3 Govt provides approved list of end of life resources, guiding you in death.

PG 427 Lines 15-24 Govt mandates program for orders for end of life. The Govt has a say in how your life ends

Pg 429 Lines 1-9 An “adv. care planning consult” will be used frequently as patients health deteriorates.

PG 429 Lines 10-12 “adv. care consultation” may include an ORDER FOR END OF LIFE plans. AN “ORDER” from the GOVERNMENT on when your life ends.

Pg 429 Lines 13-25 – The govt will specify which Doctors can write an end of life order.

PG 430 Lines 11-15 The Govt will decide what level of treatment you will have at end of life.

No thanks !

Reply to London

dem

08/14/09 - 14:02

What a bunch of BS!
You're right where the right wingers/insurance companies want you, scared!
Guess you'd rather enrich CEO's than have health care.
What's really sad is you're owned and don't even know it!

Reply to London

London

08/14/09 - 16:14

Just calling yourself a dem shows me you are owned.. There is no such thing as a right wing or left wing in this Nation it is all in your mind, their all one wing and it is about time you figured that out.. Those corporations you mention all want this action to go in to effect, they created the problem and they have presented the solution to the problem...They will pass it soon, their only putting on a big show and fake dispute before doing so.. I will never fund it, I will never work again in this society, I will not be forced to pay for peoples health care who smoke, do drugs, drink booze, eat lousy, and who do not save their money for health care but buy fancy cars and flat screen tvs, and take vactions they cannot afford...You do that for them, I was responsible for 30 years, I don't need your help..

Reply to London

mpc

08/15/09 - 00:22

If the government really wanted cheaper health insurance, the government would restrain itself to the constitutional limits of government. The federal government, being the congress, the senate, the president, and the supreme court, want deficits, they want high taxes, they want to destroy the middle class. If they did not want deficit spending they would eliminate it. If they did not want higher taxes they would eliminate them. If they did not want to destroy the middle class, they would not be doing what they are doing now. Those four bodies make all the laws of this country. If things are going badly, it is because those four bodies of the government want them to go badly.

It has come down to an us agaist them situation. Five hundred forty five against 300,000,000.

Reply to London

grandma

08/15/09 - 11:40

If they would handle the illegal imigrants issue first, and give our citizens the care they need, it would solve some of the problems. I believe you are the right track, and it doesn't matter what party you belong to----WRONG is WRONG. I always thought of medicare & social security as an insurance program, you pay in, you get benefits when you get old, but illegals get benefits without paying in.

Reply to London

Anon.

08/16/09 - 00:59

Somewhere I read that if we were to tax tobacco in proportion to the overall cost to society in terms of health care (emphysema, cancer, etc.) the tax would have to be one dollar per cigarette. I am reminder of this whenever I see someone who is older, overweight, maybe in a wheelchair, with an oxygen tube up the nose. At a certain age Medicare takes over and we all have to pay for that person's choices - smoking, high fructose corn diabetes, etc. $20 bucks per pack tax? That would pay for a lot of health care and ultimately reduce a preventable cause of disease and death by the sheer cost of the habit. I can hear the howls of protest already ... cough, cough!