Feb 24, 2010

Congressman Blumenauer sent me an unsolicited e-mail. Here's my reply.

Congressman Blumenauer,

Thank you for letting me know where you stand regarding the issue of health insurance reform. With all due respect, if you were truly interested in health care "reform", as you put it, you democrats could easily pass legislation RIGHT NOW to eliminate pre-existing condition qualifiers on health insurance. You could also pass legislation RIGHT NOW that would allow health insurance companies to compete across state lines without state insurance mandates.

Congress already could  have, with the stimulus, porkulus, TARP money etc. you democrats have already wasted, actually PURCHASED private health insurance policies for EVERY American for an entire year! And yet the democrats, who at this very moment have enough votes to pass anything they want without interference from Republicans, can't get ANYTHING passed. So don't blame Republicans for delay tactics or partisanship. As someone in the blogosphere said, right now Republicans couldn't delay or stop even a clown car.

Want to help small businesses? Forget about your sham health care takeover of the American economy. Instead, take your hands out of the pockets of small businesses and lower their taxes! You're stunned about skyrocketing health care premiums? I AM STUNNED about the democrat proposed tax increases and massive  future deficits in the TRILLIONS of dollars, which make the health care premium increases you mentioned look like chump change.

Congressman, YOUR democrat party and YOUR trillion dollar deficits are what's frightening. With all due respect, if you want to help small businesses in Oregon, vote to end the continued deficit spending of trillions of dollars that we don't have!!!! Remember, you work for us. We don't work for you.

Sincerely,

Robert Canfield

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Congressman Earl Blumenauer wrote:

February 24, 2010

Dear Mr. Canfield:

In an effort to bridge the political gap and build momentum for comprehensive health insurance reform, President Obama will hold his health care summit tomorrow at the White House, which I'll be streaming live on my website http://blumenauer.house.gov. Tune in and watch at 7am Pacific.

As I've made clear over the last year, health insurance reform is too important not to pass. In the last few weeks, I've been stunned at the news accounts of skyrocketing premiums while the five largest health insurers are enjoying record profits. It's hard to reconcile the fact that 50% of Oregonians are delaying necessary medical care because they can't afford it, while the biggest insurance companies made a combined profit of $12.2 billion last year - a 56% increase from the previous year. This puts people's health at risk and hampers growth at a time when we're working to recover the economy. I recently spoke with small business owners, and they're struggling to hire people because they've been hit with rate hikes ranging from 20 to over 120 percent!

For the last year, I've been working to make sure the millions of Americans without health insurance get the coverage they deserve. This is something I won't give up on, and with the blueprint President Obama unveiled on Monday, it's clear he won't either.

Despite health care opponents calling to scrap the bills passed by the House and Senate, now is the time to push past partisanship, work together, and negotiate on legislation that will improve the lives of all Americans. I'll be watching tomorrow, hoping to see forward momentum rather than the delay tactics that have stalled action on health insurance reform.

Sincerely,
Earl Blumenauer
Member of Congress

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