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Minnesota House of Representatives

State Representative Matt Dean

301 State Office BuildingState Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-3018

For more information contact: House GOP Communications 651-296-5520

Posted: 2009-01-26 00:00:00
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NEWS RELEASE

HOUSE REPUBLICANS PROPOSE REAL SOLUTIONS FOR HEALTH CARE REFORM

ST PAUL – Without an explanation as to how they would pay for it, Democrats and their interest group allies continue to make empty promises to Minnesotans. The Democrats plan, which they have called “Cover All Kids,” provides very little to families struggling to pay for health insurance and delivers more cuts to hospitals already struggling to survive.
“Pulling more people into a system which under-serves them is neither compassionate nor commonsense,” said Rep. Laura Brod (R-New Prague). “We should be looking at getting these kids covered through mechanisms that keep them in the private market which will serve them and every family in the state better than any one-size-fits-all program.”
Rep. Matt Dean (R-Dellwood) questions how the Democrats will pay for their proposal. “I certainly give the Democrats high marks for their political rhetoric – but this is going to bankrupt the Healthcare Security Fund in 1-2 years. Not only that, passage of this legislation will inevitably force those who currently have private insurance to switch to government programs that are bankrupting hospitals because they pay below the cost of providing the services.
Republicans, led by Brod and Dean, suggest that the state must look for new ways of providing assistance to people that are not only sustainable in the long term, but more importantly, keeps individuals in control of their own healthcare decisions. The continued attempts to expand MNCare do not accomplish either the goal of getting people covered in an affordable manner or allowing people to have choices.
Added Dean, “We shouldn’t be judging the quality of our health care solutions by how many people we can file through a government program. What we should be judging them on is whether Minnesotans are getting care that allows them to keep their doctor and their plan at a price they can afford.”
Said Brod, “Simply throwing more money at yesterday’s solutions won’t work. It is the same tired idea of shifting more people onto government programs; it’s one of the reasons we are in the position we are currently in. We need to lead the nation with new ideas and new solutions to truly alleviate the problems that both families and government budgets are facing.”
In the coming weeks, Republicans will be bringing forward commonsense solutions to the healthcare discussion; solutions which challenge the status quo. These new ideas will better serve the citizens, better serve the insured and the uninsured, and create a more sustainable budget approach which will not bankrupt the state or force cuts to education, which the Thissen-Berglin plan most certainly will.

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