This an open letter to Rep. Herseth Sandlin from our own Sarge PrestonDear Congresswoman Herseth Sandlin:
Thank you for coming to the Pennington County Democrats Oktoberfest. It was educational to hear your viewpoints.
What I brought away from your presentation was:
1. The health care lobby, in spending over $600,000 dollars daily on lobbying Congress, has been effective to some degree, though I want to believe it has affected you little.
2. The health insurance efforts against the public insurance option prove that it will work. You quoted the President on several occasions. Remember he also said that, “They (Republicans) say the government cannot run anything. Then why are they afraid of a little competition from the public option?”
3. You failed to make a case for keeping insurance premiums affordable. You indicated that “competition” will keep policies affordable. Not true. So called competition has not worked very well in the past 5 years with 70% plus increase in premiums paid by South Dakotans. You never mentioned price controls, antitrust enforcement, or any other provisions to keep premium costs under control.
4. You know that the insurance industry will get around the “competition” fantasy by merging (which Congress seems to have to stomach to address), colluding on prices, and lobbying Congress to continue to enjoy the profits they desire at the expense of our citizens health and our economy.
5. You seem to not be aware that corruption is occurring in some rural electric coops, which will happen in insurance coops without a public option safety net.
6. Triggers? The Medicare part D plan, which was written by the pharmaceutical industry during the Bush Administration, has a trigger that has never been pulled. This has caused a severe hardship for many of my Medicare patients. Why will a trigger provision written by the insurance industry be any different?
7. You seem to totally dismiss the fact that we have already given up what nearly every other industrialized nation provides for its citizens; health care. Let’s not give this away as gift to the insurance industry. Why with more money to lobby even harder and produce ever more antireform propaganda will there be a time in the future to get this right?
Congresswoman Herseth Sandlin, it time to stand with the Senator Johnson and the leadership of the House, and help produce a bill with a strong public option. The time is NOW!
Robert C. Preston, MD
Member, Pennington County Executive Board
Member, South Dakota State Democratic Central Committee Executive Board
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