November 3-5, 2016
Nov 03 08:39 Bonding referendum lit piece Nov 03 14:50 Obamacare: Hillary's achilles heel? Nov 03 16:36 MNsure's multitude of problems Nov 04 09:57 SEIU, Dayton exploit families Nov 04 11:28 Gov. Dayton, SEIU rigging elections Nov 05 03:08 Buck family takes aim at DFL Nov 05 17:05 MNsure good news, bad news
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Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Bonding referendum lit piece
A loyal reader of LFR just sent me a lit piece that a private citizen put together and distributed on St. Cloud's south side. It's something worth highlighting for multiple reasons. First, whoever put that together is definitely motivated. Next, it's clear they'll either vote against the referendum or that they've already voted to reject the referendum. Third, the person (or group of people) who put this lit piece together put together a well-thought-out series of arguments against building a new Tech High School.
One of the lit piece's points says "The school that the District plans to build is modeled after the new Alexandria High School (opened 2 years ago). Incorporated into the plan are numerous "informal learning spaces" which offer places where students may gather outside of the traditional class room. The first year that Alexandria opened resulted in the failure of the new high school to meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) for federal requirements in reading. Last year, the school failed to meet the AYP in the areas of reading, math and graduation rates. This was a high school that had excellent AYP (no failures) year after year. That changed after the new school was built and opened." Here's the first page of the lit piece:
Here's the second page of the lit piece:
Every voter in ISD 742 should take the time to read this lit piece. It sets forth some important information and well-reasoned arguments against building a new Tech HS.
Posted Thursday, November 3, 2016 8:39 AM
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Obamacare: Hillary's achilles heel?
It isn't a stretch to say that Hillary has had a horrific last week, mostly fueled by Jim Comey's announcement that the FBI investigation had been re-opened and the Wikileaks document dumps. Those things have made it virtually impossible for Mrs. Clinton to get her message out. Unfortunately for Mrs. Clinton, those are just Mrs. Clinton's 2 biggest problems. Obamacare is the other leg to Hillary's disaster trifecta.
From an issues standpoint, the Obamacare rate hikes are hurting Mrs. Clinton's campaign because Democrats passed the bill without a single Republican vote and because the rate hikes are hitting lots of families right before the election. It isn't helping Mrs. Clinton that Trump is hitting her hard for supporting the ACA, either. Mrs. Clinton isn't helping herself by halfheartedly defending the ACA. It's hurting Mrs. Clinton that her husband called the ACA "the craziest thing" he's ever seen or that Gov. Dayton stepped in front of the microphones and said that "the Affordable Care Act is no longer affordable" for increasing numbers of Minnesotans.
It isn't that Mrs. Clinton is likely to lose Minnesota's 10 electoral votes. It's that she's losing battleground states like Ohio, Arizona, Iowa, North Carolina and others. It's that the Democrats' 'blue firewall' that President Obama built isn't withstanding the Trump/Obamacare/Clinton Foundation perfect storm.
It's quite possible that cracks in the Democrats' blue firewall will keep Hillary out of the White House.
Posted Thursday, November 3, 2016 2:50 PM
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MNsure's multitude of problems
Matt Dean, the chair of the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee, has an op-ed in today's Pioneer Press that outlines MNsure's multitude of problems. Chairman Dean starts his op-ed off by saying "Imagine a huge summer storm blows the roof off every family home and farm in Rochester, St. Cloud and Duluth. Would anyone say, 'Only 250,000 are impacted, and 95 percent of the state is fine, so it's not a real emergency?'"
That's just the start. In his op-ed, Chairman Dean identified multiple problems with the ACA, starting with Dean's statement that "The only uncapped product is Blue Cross Plus, which offers narrow networks. Blue Plus is not offered for Benton, Crow Wing, Mille Lacs, Morrison and Stearns counties. That means that in those five counties, once the caps have been met, there is no way to buy insurance that is now legally required."
Until now, Gov. Dayton and the DFL have talked only about rebates to ease the sting of high ACA premiums. Those rebates are certainly important in fixing part of the ACA's problems but they won't fix everything that's wrong with the ACA. This paragraph highlights another problem with the ACA:
Even if folks do sign up and get a plan, they will learn what a "narrower network" means. You might have to drive by your old doctor's office and your town's hospital and travel to another town for care. Patients will lose their doctors, and access to a major provider like Essentia in Northeast Minnesota. In September, I met a mom whose 12-year-old son is being treated at Mayo for two brain tumors. She can't take him there anymore because no policy she can buy will pay for it, and she doesn't know what to do.
I just spoke with a loyal reader of LFR whose family lives in northern Minnesota. I confirmed that networks up there are tiny to the point that some people's hometown hospitals aren't in their networks. Yesterday, I read a sarcastic comment that the best thing about the ACA is that it eliminated the need for picking between which insurance company they'd prefer to purchase. On the serious side, it's heartbreaking to hear about this woman's crisis.
Republicans aren't just complaining about MNsure and the ACA. They're offering solutions to these problems at townhall meetings like this one:
Chairman Dean offered this solution in his op-ed:
We must reconnect Minnesota patients with the best care in the world. To do that, we need to strengthen the private insurance market by resuscitating the ability of consumers to buy insurance plans for 2017. That will mean that we need to offer direct consumer assistance and more choices for people who are buying plans right now. We can't take no for an answer from the feds who stuck us with this awful thing, and frankly they should pay for it.
Longer term, we must admit that MNsure needs to go. MNsure was envisioned to serve the very people it is hurting most: those Minnesotans unprotected by a big company plan or a government program.
We need to replace it with what worked in Minnesota. We need to re-establish our nation-leading coverage plan for high-cost enrollees and offer support to the private market, not unfair competition by a bankrupting "middle-class Medicaid" plan to drive private insurance out of our state.
Posted Thursday, November 3, 2016 4:36 PM
Comment 1 by Rex Newman at 04-Nov-16 07:21 PM
If we must subsidize health care, how about we tax the gold and platinum plans provided Obama-care free to the public sector? Add a $2,000 deductible ($5,000 family) to all such plans, to allow them (the majority being DFL no doubt) to share in the pain they helped foster. As Becky Lourey once said, "We're all in this together."
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 04-Nov-16 08:20 PM
I wonder if son Tony would vote for that plan. I'm betting otherwise. LOL
SEIU, Dayton exploit families
According to this article , a judge has ordered SEIU HealthCare Minnesota "to turn over a list of names of personal care attendants to a union decertification campaign." Further, the article states "the Dayton administration admitted they have not been complying with a 2013 law that requires an accurate list of PCAs in the SEIU bargaining unit to be kept. This is a law which Governor Mark Dayton personally pushed for."
Meanwhile, the MNPCA is "working to force a new election in an attempt to decertify the SEIU which won a low turnout victory in 2014 with only 13 percent of caregivers voting for unionization. MNPCA sued three state agencies in order to get up to date contact information in order to notify caregivers about the campaign, and won."
The vast majority of PCAs "are women caring for a family member." They "were unionized as 'state employees' in 2014" in what was essentially a rigged election. (See the previous paragraph on that.) It's impossible to win a fight if you don't have a list of people eligible to vote. Thankfully, Judge "Robert A. Awsumb ordered the Department of Human Services to turn over to MNPCA a list of all the names of all home care workers who have been active in the program in the last six months."
This is additional proof that Gov. Dayton and the DFL are a wholly-owned subsidiary of the PEUs. Gov. Dayton apparently didn't hesitate in tipping the scales in SEIU's favor. That begs this important question: if SEIU is providing that good of a service, why did they need Gov. Dayton to tip the scales in their favor? The dirty little secret (and it's definitely dirty) is that SEIU's forced unionization play is the union's latest attempt to take money away from people caring for loved ones.
That's the opposite of compassion. That's taking money away from families that need government assistance to care for their relatives. That's the definition of legalized theft. The SEIU, combined with Gov. Dayton, are the poster children of weaponized government. This paragraph shouts corruption:
If a new contract agreement for PCAs is reached by the SEIU before being decertified, MNPCA would have to wait at least two years before trying to hold such an election again. The SEIU and the State of Minnesota announced they were working on a new contract after MNPCA started their election campaign. The current contract does not expire until June 30, 2017 and the new negotiations are well in advance of typical timeframes for such deals.
There's nothing honest or trustworthy about this:
The Dayton administration had promised to inform the committee of any PCA contract negotiations, but only did so after the committee's co-chair, Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R-21B) complained about the lack of notice.
Thankfully, we still have a judiciary that isn't as corrupt as the Dayton administration or SEIU.
Posted Friday, November 4, 2016 9:57 AM
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Gov. Dayton, SEIU rigging elections
I wrote this post to highlight what the SEIU and Gov. Dayton did to rig a unionization vote. Saying that what they did is unethical is understatement. What they did was unethical on steroids.
First, it's worth highlighting the fact that Gov. Dayton's Department of Human Services and Gov. Dayton's Bureau of Mediation Services didn't provide the Minnesota Personal Care Attendants association, aka the MNPCA, with an up-to-date list of PCAs in the state. (A judge just ruled that Gov. Dayton's Department of Human Services has to give the MNPCA an accurate list of the PCAs in Minnesota.)
Next, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota worked with the Dayton administration to make sure that only a tiny percentage of PCAs voted in the unionization vote. Approximately 3,500 voted out of 27,000 PCAs. These PCAs didn't vote because they were apathetic to the issue. They didn't vote because they didn't know how to get a ballot to vote in the election.
At this point, it's worth asking why the Dayton administration, the DFL and the SEIU didn't want everyone to vote. I'm betting that they only wanted the people that they'd identified as friendlies voting. This video offers an inside look:
This is how PCAs feel:
Minnesota PCAs don't need a union. The SEIU is taking a cut of a public subsidy - and then taking credit for benefits the legislature provides anyway. That's just wrong!
This FAQ offers some insight into Gov. Dayton's and SEIU's tactics:
Did the SEIU win a representation election?
In 2014, under this new law, the SEIU won an election that allowed them to claim exclusive representation of all 27,000 PCAs across the state. However, of those 27,000, only 3,500 PCAs voted in favor of unionization. That's just 13%. Many PCAs were not aware of the vote or its ramifications and feel they were unwittingly trapped in a union they do not want.
That's what corruption looks like. Gov. Dayton and the SEIU know that they can't win that election if it's fought on a level playing field. Don't let DFL legislators off the hook, either. They passed the bill on the final weekend of the 2013 session.
Posted Friday, November 4, 2016 11:28 AM
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Buck family takes aim at DFL
Three weeks ago, Speaker Kurt Daudt highlighted a farming family whose health insurance premiums were literally doubling. That's when Minnesota got introduced to David and Ann Buck. This WCCO-TV article quotes Ann Buck as saying "This is a crisis. There will be people on Jan. 1 who will not be insured." She's right. Unfortunately, that's only part of Minnesota's MNsure crisis.
Later in the article, WCCO reports that "The Bucks are among those who got cancellation notices from Blue Cross effective Dec. 31. They currently pay $1,600 a month in premiums with a $13,000 deductible for their family of four. They have been told next year their monthly premiums will jump to $3,300 a month with the same deductible. That would mean $40,000 in premiums, something the Bucks say they cannot afford."
The good news for the Buck family is that Republicans and Democrats agree there needs to be a short-term fix for the Bucks and other families trapped in the same crisis. The bad news for the Buck family is that they never should've been put into this position. Now the Bucks are providing the DFL with a little well-deserved retribution:
Here's the transcript of the Bucks' ad:
DAVID BUCK: We run a family business on a tight budget.
ANN BUCK: The Democrats promised lower health care costs and that did not happen. Health care costs are soaring and families just can't afford the premiums.
DAVID: Our rates are going up to $3,300 a month, $40,000 a year -- $40,000 a year.
ANN: It's insanity.
DAVID: Democrats got us into this mess with MNsure.
ANN: If we don't vote against Democrats, we're just going to get more of the same.
The truth is that the DFL created this crisis because they put a higher priority on achieving an ideological victory than they put on doing the right thing.
Posted Saturday, November 5, 2016 3:08 AM
Comment 1 by JerryE9 at 05-Nov-16 10:33 AM
Well, in defense of the DFL, you must admit they have absolutely NO idea of what "the right thing" is.
Comment 2 by RickyW at 05-Nov-16 09:57 PM
This is the couple that runs Buck's Unlimited, one of the biggest corporate dairy farms in Minnesota.
David's the vice president of the Minnesota Milk Producers Association. He and Ann and his brothers and son DJ are all big wheels in the Minnesota dairy world.
They are not the small mom and pop farmers they are made out to be. They're not eligible for the MNsure tax subsidy because they make much more than the $97,000 a year cutoff. Most dairy farms are less than 80 acres; Buck's Unlimited LLC is over ten times that, with 907 acres on four separate farms.
They don't own any of the 907 acres on which they operate, which not only saves them from paying any real estate tax, they get to write off their rent payments on their Federal and state taxes! On top of that, David Buck has received over $600,000 in subsidies from the Federal government since 1995. (His brothers and son DJ have also got six figures worth of free money from the government.)
Comment 3 by Future Buck Granson at 05-Nov-16 11:09 PM
Thank Ted Cruz, he removed the money that was in the affordable health care law. That money was in there to help the insurance companies to absorb loss due to the increase in people that had pushed of services, because they were not affordable. The Buck family detectable is like 24% of a typical person in MN yearly earning (the Bucks must be better off to be able to risk the paying of that large of deductible. So why are they crying when the person in Remer, Togo, Big Fork, etc would never risk having a 13000 bill in a single year.....
Wake up ... Wake up ... ...
Response 3.1 by Gary Gross at 06-Nov-16 12:31 AM
Actually, it was Sen. Rubio who removed the insurance company bailouts. As for single-payer, why would anyone think that Democrats are good at running anything? Just look at Detroit & tell me that they know how to run anything.
Comment 4 by Future Buck Granson at 05-Nov-16 11:13 PM
I hope we get to single payer before I am born and have to pay insurance companies their blood money. I see that a birth in 1955 at Crosby Miner Hospitable cost parents (with no insurance at all) less than $25.00.
Get the insurance companies out of needed heath care. They can cover "plastic surgery" when it is not needed to reconstruct features after an accident or birth defect.
Comment 5 by Chad Q at 06-Nov-16 07:20 PM
Why should it matter if a family is making $10,000 or $1,000,000 a year, Obamacare/MNSure is a financial disaster for the buyers and the Nation/State as a whole. The poor can't afford it so we subsidize them to buy it and they still can't afford to go to the doctor due to high deductibles. Get government and their mandates out of the way so people can buy what they want, not what some Washington/Minnesotan bureaucrats say you need.
Also, who has received more subsides since 1995, a welfare recipient living off the government or a farmer living by the rules set forth by the government? I don't like either getting subsidized but at least the farmer produces something of worth whereas the welfare recipient only produces more need for welfare.
MNsure good news, bad news
The good news for Minnesotans is that the MNsure website is working again. The bad news for Minnesotans is that MNsure prices are still completely unaffordable. Despite Rep. Thissen's statements that people's premiums aren't going up if they get the tax credits, the truth is that Minnesotans are faced with a multi-faceted health care crisis that's largely caused by MNsure and the Affordable Care Act.
Gov. Dayton insists that MNsure enrollments are "back on track" after Tuesday morning's difficulties, saying "Minnesotans should be reassured they're going to get good customer service" before also saying "187,000 people have visited the website and 13,000 have enrolled in health insurance plans."
Friday night on Almanac, Paul Thissen and Speaker Daudt were interviewed in the opening segment, with MNsure/ACA being the chief topic. Thissen's schtick was mostly that the DFL had proposed rebates weeks ago that would eliminate the sticker shock of skyrocketing health insurance premiums. There were 2 clear inferences. The first inference was that Republicans hadn't proposed anything to fix things. The other inference was that skyrocketing premiums were the only thing that needed fixing.
Thankfully, Speaker Daudt fixed that insinuation by Rep. Thissen, saying that people in rural Minnesota didn't have easy access to health care. That's something that the DFL rebates wouldn't fix. Another thing that Speaker Daudt highlighted was the fact that the rebate wouldn't lower families' deductibles or out-of-pocket expenses.
The right way to think of MNsure/ACA health insurance policies is that they're selling policies that combine Cadillac plan premiums and catastrophic policy deductibles . Back during the good old days, it was possible to buy a policy that had a high deductible but with a cheap premium. It was also possible to buy a plan that covered everything and gave people a wide network to choose from. The trade-off was a high monthly premium.
Thanks to the DFL's stupidity, we now have to choose between policies with high premiums and high deductibles or policies with extremely high premiums and lower deductibles or expensive co-pays. What we have now is the worst of both worlds.
Joe Atkins, one of MNsure's staunchest supporters, apparently hasn't figured it out that the ACA is too expensive:
The good news is that the ACA has been exposed as a failure. The bad news is that we still haven't defeated Hillary so we can replace the ACA with something that works.
Posted Saturday, November 5, 2016 5:05 PM
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