Minnesota Lawmakers Talk Proposed Health Care Bill in Detroit Lakes

It's a campaign promise which is taking months to surface

DETROIT LAKES, Minn. — Minnesotans in Detroit Lakes are getting the chance to bring their health care reform concerns directly to the politicians.

The leaders of our community involved with health care changes are hearing from the people.

Democratic Representative Collin Peterson and other local health care leaders met with Minnesotans at the Holiday Inn by Highway 10.

“I was surprised that they got the bill through the house given all the trouble they were having,” said Rep. Collin Peterson, “but they just twisted enough arms that they were just able to do it. I did not vote for the Affordable Care Act because I thought it had problems. Because it was done on a partisan basis, only the Democrats, the Republicans didn’t want to help.”

It’s a campaign promise which is taking months to surface.

“It’s just a mess,” said President Trump, during his campaign. “Obamacare is a total mess.”

The proposed American Health Care Act aims at fixing so-called mistakes from Obama’s Affordable Health Care Act.

While many on both sides of the aisle continue to debate the bill, Lakes Area Indivisible is bringing it back to a community level.

“This whole situation in health care is so polarized that it’s becoming impossible for a discussion in a non-partisan way or a
bi-partisan way in Washington,” said Gordon Rosby, who is chairman of Lakes Area Indivisible. “We think it’s really important to start at the community level and make it a local issue. Work back up the chain and let our senators know how we feel.”

The group is trying to avoid what they call “The T-word”, making tonight more about the people this health care bill would impact.

“There are insurance executives who are making tens of millions of dollars a year to do a similar job that administrators and organizations such as the VA and Medicare, Medicaid and CMS do for much less,” said one person who attended the event. “All that extra money could go to patient care.”

“That’s one of the reasons I voted against this bill because they put the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical companies in charge and said they’re control the cost,” said Rep. Peterson. That’s a bunch of hogwash.”

The American Health Care Act passed the house but is still being deliberated in the Senate.