Note: a technical glitch in Bluestem's online editing software prevented me from posting the final notes on the meeting; fortunately, I was able to save them in Word and now post them here. [end note].
1:27 Someone raises the issue of constitutionality; Quist agrees that the bill is unconstitutional. Another man worries that the legislation will lead to "one world government" that Allen had worried about years ago. How can people fight back?
Brase says that people have to rise up and act.
Quist raises the fact that he's running for Congress and directs people to his web site, where he will be posting information about how this is the biggest tax increase ever. A woman urges people to go to precinct caucuses and prepare to elect delegates to go to the next step. Another woman suggests a fundraiser to buy ads for a newspaper campaign.
1:16 Mary Ramirez--who spoke at the Mankato Town Hall--asks what studies show that medical malpractice insurance costs don't drive up insurance. Quist talks about a study of the costs of defensive medicine.
1:11 Quist explains how health insurance coverage really isn't in crisis. He reels off a list of those who don't have insurance: people making $75,000 or more who don't buy insurance; people between jobs; healthy young people; illegal aliens, and so on down to 10 million. Be generous and double that, and the $53 billion could subsidize them.
1:08 A woman says the bill includes euthanasia, since when times get rough, it's always the weak and old who go, like in Nazi Germany. Brase agrees, and says that cutting "waste" in Medicare will lead to seniors dying.
1:04 Under new bill, government will determine how much gets paid for various operations by geographical locations, Quist says. Middle class, not wealthy, will pay for health care reform.
Someone asks what they can do to stop the bill. Brase says that opposition by the people has stalled the bill. She blames pro-lifers for getting the bill passed. Keep fighting, she says. "We will be the last people standing when they give up."
12:59 Quist goes on to talk about how Cap and Trade will add to national debt. China will be buying the carbon credits.
12:57 Brase cites parallel between Hitler's move to eliminate national debt from World War I to current devaluing of currency.
12:54: This bill is going to kill the American Dream. Cites National Journal article that estimates national debt will be 87% of GDP in 2025. Federal government will go into default. America isn't facing a health care crisis but a spending crisis.
12:48 Quist says that with the House bill, liberty and freedom are gone and the government has its way with you.
12:46 Quist says that this bill is the biggest tax increase on the middle class in the history of our country.
12:45 Quist now up. He jokes about his professorial air.
He outlines important principles in health care. First question: Who makes the decision.
Second question: Who pays the bills?
Third question: What will the consequences be on the country as a whole?
Some secondary questions. He uses the example of the Twins stadium to illustrate Allen's First law of politics: Money gravitates to the center of power. Second, why don't farmers wear tennis shoes? The seed companies don't give them away; now they give away calculator.
Quist mentions that many people in the room were out in Washington DC with him for Michele Bachmann. Quist claims that figures that he found led him to conclude that a family of four with an income of $45,000 will cost them $371 per year.
He notes that big business doesn't object to the bill, since their insurance costs will drop from 16 percent of payroll to 8 percent. He believes no business will provide insurance if employees can get low cost insurance from the government. Business won't be paying the bill. Families will incomes of $45,000 won't be paying the bill.
Quist suspects single people with incomes over $45,000 and mrried couples making over $59,000 will be paying the bill. He cites the WSJ "The Worst Bill Ever" analysis.
12:28 She reads the list of alternates that the CCHC proposes, I'll have to get this from her. One element includes a "compassionate exit strategy from Medicare." She closes by saying that we have only two choices: freedom or government.
12:23 The second problem would be the creation of a health insurance exchange. She notes that the CCHC defeated similar state-level programs earlier.
Number three? Lots of new fees and taxes. The bill will not be budget-neutral to your pocket book.
Four: Senior citizens will be monitored for health.
Five: Health will be rationed through research and use of records. She calls "pay for perfromance" "pay for conformance."
Six: Waste cutting is actually rationing
Seven: Creation of national patient ID will be used to dictate care and gather medical information.
Eight: Government agents will go into homes with children for home surveillance. "Home visits" are actually monitoring systems. This system is already in place in Minnesota.
She closes by talking about a Pawlenty administration rule that sends Minnesota patients' health records to Maine.
12:15 She begins by talking about how many pages there are in the bill; since it's a large piece piece of legislation there's a lot to talk about. She quotes a passage supposedly written by a Democrat who's writes that he's worried about the "Democrat bill."
She calls the Senate Committee Bill a wish list or the "No Bill." She criticizes seven or eight sections of the bill that she thinks are the worst in the House.
First, the mandate to purchase health insurance approved by the government. This will lead to nationalized health care.
12:09 Dr. Bill Wood, a local physician and a self-described long-lifelong Republican, leads the group of about 40 people in the Pledge of Allegiance. He introduces Twila Brase, of the Citizens' Council on Health Care."We like to say that we're all that stands between you and
socialized medicine," she begins, then relates the CCHC's legislative
victories.
12:03 Earlier this morning, I attended a press conference Congressman Tim Walz held with Mayo CEO Glenn Forbes at the Mankato Clinic. Now I'm at the Happy Chef in Mankato for Allen Quist's Health Care Forum.
Photo: Back in the old days, this statue stood in front of the Mankato Happy Chef. Good times.
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