LINK: Soul of MN Tea Party, health care activists storm McCollum's office in Washington

I would immediately repeal and replace so-called Affordable Health Care for America act. Republicans, including Collett, say we cannot act until conservatives elect a new President (she waffles back and forth, because she knows Americans want it repealed. But we must act, quickly bringing REAL reform that is pro-life at every stage. Obamacare allows unlimited insurance premium growth! Doctors are limited, so the uninsured still won't get access to real health care. ObamaCare impermissibly takes away control of families' health care, establishing limited, basic standards of care, promoting dependence on the government and policies to withhold healthcare. It will be ruled unconstitutional, and even though McCollum told LWV she’s proud of her vote, she’s already abandoned it and filed a bill July 21, 2010 to establish the public option in ObamaCare, along with 117 other Democratic Representatives. Obamacare makes as much sense as sub-prime mortgages. It needs to be stopped now.

Contrast with McCollum

1. McCollum says “I am proud of my vote in Congress to pass historic health care reform legislation.”
a. It can’t be historic if it is ruled unconstitutional, or if it’s just a placeholder for the public option bill Democrats have introduced, H.R. 5808, and so it’s already been eclipsed by that new bill. What it is is a historic policy and economic mess, which puts America’s health care system at great risk and needs to be corrected immediately.
2. This law extends insurance coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans and cuts the federal budget deficit by $143 billion in the first ten years and then additional $1.2 trillion by 2029.
a. Projections like this of $1.3 trillion are completely ridiculous and not deserving of any seriousness.
3. McCollum says “This law also ends insurance company discrimination based on pre-existing health conditions, health status, and gender. Lifetime insurance caps are eliminated.”
a. The discrimination is not ended, because the rates are higher, spread around for everybody, with higher rates for the insured.
b. What we should do is address these conditions with a targeted, real reform bill.
c. We cannot stop insurance companies from charging more for actuarial reasons.
4. McCollum says “For seniors, the bill fills the Medicare prescription drug donut hole.”
a. This bill raids Medicare for $500 billion to shift away from aging with dignity, which would benefit all Americans when they age. It is agist.
5. McCollum says “Republican efforts to repeal this law would strip life-saving health protections from millions of Americans.”
a. We don’t need to defund every life-saving health protection, we can selectively defund in return for a solemn promise from Obama not to veto.
b. This effort will be strengthened by the fact the law will be unconstitutional and that Democrats are still negotiating, because they want the public option.

Contrast with Collett

1. Collett condemns the bill.
a. But she refuses to do anything about it.
b. She’s strictly following the Republican Party establishment leadership and it is clear they are using the Tea Party to get votes and then are going to blow us off and blame the Democrats for the mess.
c. Somehow Republicans hope that for this effort they will be rewarded with a Republican president in 2012.
2. There is increasing evidence that the Act will substantially increase the cost of private medical insurance, reduce the number of employers providing health care coverage for their employees, and impose significant new costs on state government budgets. The Act leaves millions of Americans uninsured, erodes the quality of American health care, and contributes substantially to the growth of the federal deficit.
a. I agree with this.
3. The requirement that individuals purchase insurance is an unprecedented expansion of the power of the federal government and should be rejected as unconstitutional by the courts.
a. I agree with this, but disagree that we should hope for that and do nothing in the 2010 election, as Collett is doing.
b. On about September 7, at the State Fair on Sue Jeffers’ show, Collett admitting that she is shifting with the political winds and will not move to repeal the act unless the political winds are at her back.