October 25-27, 2016
Oct 25 10:50 ISD 742 & the wrong diversity Oct 25 14:38 NRCC criticizes Angie Craig on ACA Oct 25 22:19 Gov. Dayton's better Minnesota? Oct 26 03:58 The ACA: fewer choices, more expensive Oct 26 11:07 MNsure caught wasting time Oct 26 18:14 Zakula criticizes Speaker Daudt Oct 27 00:05 Daudt ups MNsure ante Oct 27 08:56 The ACA: about that tiny fraction Oct 27 15:03 MNsure: very unfair & deplorable
Prior Months: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
ISD 742 & the wrong diversity
Ric Studer is a candidate for the ISD 742 School Board. This morning, I noticed Mr. Studer's LTE published in the St. Cloud Times. Saying that it's a bit unusual is understatement. Frankly, I find it repulsive.
The opening paragraph of Mr. Studer's LTE says "I am a candidate for St. Cloud school board. As much as I would like your vote and to serve on the board, I ask that you vote for the very qualified Shannon Haws and Monica Segura-Schwartz." The next paragraph says "There are no ethnic minorities or women remaining on the board after Les Green and Debbie Erickson chose not to run for re-election. Our district is ethnically, religiously and racially diverse. I find it appalling that the three remaining board members and six of the eight candidates are white, middle-aged, middle class, Christian or Jewish men."
While I agree that there isn't enough diversity on the ISD 742 School Board, it isn't that I'm worried about the ethnic or religious diversity. The diversity that's lacking is diversity of thought. This board suffers from a chronic case of groupthink. They're arrogant, too, but that's another story. This Board hasn't disagreed with Willie Jett in any meaningful way, much less challenged him on anything. Each of the current members and all but one of the candidates running for the Board think that taxpayers are ATMs to be tapped whenever the Board wants.
The 'solution' that the Board has come up with is foolish and expensive. Build a new school, they say, even though Apollo will soon be big enough to house all of the district's high school students. This Board wants taxpayers to vote for a $143,250,000 bonding referendum simply because they want something for their legacy. That type of groupthink isn't just expensive. It's foolish.
I wrote this post to highlight the fact that John Palmer would be the lone voice of sanity if he were elected to the ISD 742 School Board. Dr. Palmer is a retired professor who taught education at SCSU . He's the taxpayers' advocate in the race. That's why he's needed on the Board.
Finally, there's this from Mr. Studer:
How can good decisions be made for the district's people without the representation of a true cross section of our community? A vote for Shannon and Monica will give us the respected voices of women and the Latino community on the board.
We've seen that good decisions can't be made when everyone practices groupthink. That's how we've arrived at this mess. What's needed is a fresh perspective. What's needed is a leader. John Palmer provides both qualities. That's why I'm voting for him this Nov. 8.
Posted Tuesday, October 25, 2016 10:50 AM
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NRCC criticizes Angie Craig on ACA
The NRCC's latest ad against Angie Craig doesn't hold anything back. The transcript of the ad starts with a narrator saying "More attacks from Angie Craig, twisting Jason Lewis' words out of context. Splice and dice enough, you can make anyone sound bad. Angie Craig will say and do anything to get elected." Then it switches to Ms. Craig telling KSTP's Tom Hauser "I would fight to expand the Affordable Care Act."
Later, Hauser's Truth Test reviewed the claims in the ad, with Hauser returning the verdict that the statement "is true." Ms. Craig started backpedalling immediately after Gov Dayton said that "the Affordable Care Act is no longer affordable for an increasing number of people."
The truth is that Ms. Craig is a cookie-cutter progressive who will do whatever Nancy Pelosi tells her to do. She isn't an independent thinker like John Kline was. She definitely isn't the leader that Rep. Kline has been.
Most importantly, Angie Craig's priorities aren't Minnesota's priorities or the Second District's priorities. Jason Lewis will fight to fix the problems Washington has created. He's passionate about fixing the problems that President Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have created over the past 8 years.
Jason Lewis laid out his plan to jumpstart economic growth on his issues page. Here's what he said:
Our current "recovery" is the slowest in modern history, with just 1% growth in the most recent quarter. Median household incomes are still below where they were in 2007 and the labor force participation rate is at levels not seen since the Carter administration, with over 94 million people no longer in the workforce. If government spending was the answer, we'd be growing like gangbusters. But the fact is you can't tax, spend or borrow your way to prosperity. It's time to get our economy working for all Americans who want good-paying jobs-and that means making work pay again by cutting taxes and regulations. It means encouraging capital formation right here at home instead of abroad. It means an end to substituting bailouts for bankruptcy for the well-connected, and instead creating a level playing field for the real engine of economic growth: small and medium-size businesses.
Then Jason laid out his reform agenda:
Today's IRS code-filled with loopholes and tax credits for every conceivable special interest-has over four million words. All these exemptions do is place a much higher tax burden on the rest of us, especially the majority of America's businesses who can't afford lobbyists in Washington. In fact, the top 50% of income earners (even households earning just $37,000) now pay 97% of all income taxes. We need a flatter and fairer tax code that not only treats everyone the same, but encourages work, savings, and investment. The last thing we should be doing is adding more brackets and exemptions to an already complicated tax system. That's why I support the Tax Code Termination Act, introduced last year in the House, which would actually sunset the federal tax code in three years, forcing Congress to embrace real tax reform once and for all.
The biggest contrast between Jason Lewis and Angie Craig is over health care. Here's Lewis' solution:
Obamacare promised to reduce health insurance premiums by as much as $2,500 per family. Today, however, premiums are $4,865 higher, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation report. Because Obamacare mandated the most expensive coverage for everyone, young people, as well as smaller insurers, have been priced out of the market. Right here in Minnesota, we've seen the system collapse under MNsure and this year's premium price increases may reach 66 percent! The net result is a health care system bursting at the seams as employers drop costly coverage and dump part-timers onto bureaucratic 'exchanges' while providers refuse new patients due to government price controls. Obamacare even reduced the amount of out-of-pocket health expenses families could deduct . Let's empower healthcare consumers by undoing the costly ACA 'mandates,' allowing individuals to buy policies across state lines, and enacting true portability by changing the tax code.
This isn't turning out well for Democrats at the moment. In a close race like in MN-2, health care might be enough to push Jason Lewis across the finish line, especially with Ms. Craig's statements about expanding Obamacare.
The choice facing voters in Minnesota's Second District is between a puppet who listens to Nancy Pelosi and a conservative with a full-throated reform agenda. I can't think of a simpler choice.
Posted Tuesday, October 25, 2016 2:38 PM
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Gov. Dayton's better Minnesota?
This afternoon, I shared this article with some friends via email. One of the people responding said that this was a first for Gov. Dayton, adding that it's the first time Gov. Dayton had made Minnesota better.
What my friend was referring to was Gov. Dayton's now-infamous statement that the Affordable Care Act wasn't affordable anymore. My friend said that Gov. Dayton was making Minnesota better by increasing the odds that Republicans will have majorities in the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate when the dust settles. Larry Jacobs, the Walter F. Mondale Chair for Political Studies at the University of Minnesota , put it perfectly, saying " Gov. Dayton hit a hole-in-one for the other team ."
It's obvious that this is hurting DFL campaigns because of the plethora of Republican ads featuring Gov. Dayton making his now-infamous statement. It's noteworthy that Gov. Dayton isn't anywhere in the DFL's ads. One DFL politician who isn't happy is Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, who said "I ask members: What are you hearing about when you're knocking on doors, talking to people? It was clear to me that we are hearing from too many Minnesotans that this is just too big a burden on them."
Rep. Greg Preston, the co-chair of MNsure's Legislative Oversight Committee, hit Gov. Dayton hard in this op-ed :
The Governor claims he needs total DFL control of the legislature to fix health care in Minnesota. Let's review what happened last time Governor Dayton had a blank check to implement his agenda. According to news reports at the time , "No state [was] set to embrace the Affordable Care Act as thoroughly as Minnesota."
Governor Dayton and his DFL allies in the legislature raised taxes on health care to pay for the disastrous $400 million MNsure website. Democrats gave MNsure special exemptions to financial oversight and IT procurement laws, and blocked health care experts from serving on the board. The legislature even allowed bonuses for MNsure executives while the website was melting down and Minnesotans were suffering. MNsure was forced through without a single Republican vote, and nearly all Republican amendments and concerns were ignored.
My definition of insanity is hiring the people who demolished a system that was working to fix the thing that they demolished in the first place. It's also the definition of stupidity.
Gov. Dayton and the DFL created this crisis. Thus far, they've only proposed a temporary fix to rising premiums. What the DFL hasn't proposed is something to fix the structural problems of the ACA. It's one thing to "set aside politics", as Gov. Dayton proposed in this video, to pass that temporary fix:
It's doubtful that the DFL will set aside their partisanship to actually fix the structural deficiencies with the ACA. The DFL wants to implement a single-payer health care system rather than fixing the crisis facing families.
Posted Tuesday, October 25, 2016 10:19 PM
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The ACA: fewer choices, more expensive
Some liberals will criticize me for this post, especially the title. That's their problem. After reading this article , though, I'm not worried about liberals' criticisms. The truth is that health insurance premiums are going through the proverbial roof with the ACA. People should flinch when they hear that "[before] taxpayer-provided subsidies, premiums for a midlevel benchmark plan will increase an average of 25 percent across the 39 states served by the federally run online market, according to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services. Some states will see much bigger jumps."
One of the states that "will see much bigger jumps" is Arizona. According to the article, "in Arizona, unsubsidized premiums for a hypothetical 27-year-old buying a benchmark "second-lowest cost silver plan" will jump by 116 percent, from $196 to $422, according to the administration report." These astronomical premium increases will further the death spiral because young people have little incentive to buy health insurance. They're better off paying the penalty, then buying health insurance if they need major medical help.
This year's 116% premium increase in Arizona will seem mild compared to next year's premium increases. What's frightening is that that's just the tip of the iceberg. Jim Angle and Brit Hume discuss what's possibly coming next in this interview:
This map should frighten the bejesus out of Democrats:
David Montgomery's article should frighten the DFL. Here's why:
New figures released Monday show an average premium increase of 25 percent in the 39 states using the federal HealthCare.gov insurance exchange. Minnesota uses a state-run exchange, MNsure. Among the 43 states with available data, Minnesota has the fourth-highest premium increase, behind Tennessee, Oklahoma and the 116 percent increase in Arizona. All three states use HealthCare.gov.
Despite Minnesota's huge increase, it's not among the states with the highest 2017 premiums, though it is now above-average in costs. That's because just a few years ago, Minnesota had among the lowest premiums in the nation, so even years of double-digit increases leave Minnesota with the 13th-highest premiums in the country, according to a Pioneer Press analysis.
Going from the lowest premiums in the nation to the 13th-highest isn't something the DFL should be proud of. Most importantly, it isn't likely that Minnesota families will let the DFL off the hook in 2016 or 2018 for demolishing Minnesota's insurance system.
Republicans have repeatedly highlighted the fact that the DFL shoved MNsure down Minnesotans' throats without a single Republican vote. Even Esme Murphy jumped Sen. Jeff Hayden about the DFL's MNsure plan.
Posted Wednesday, October 26, 2016 3:58 AM
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MNsure caught wasting time
This article highlights the dysfunction of MNsure. While it isn't surprising, it's still aggravating.
The story starts by saying "Rep. Roz Peterson, R-Lakeville, said at a Monday news conference that a constituent had contacted her after receiving a voter registration form from MNsure, the state-run health insurance exchange, even though the person in question is already registered to vote and does not purchase health insurance through MNsure." Since the constituent who contacted Rep. Peterson is already registered, it isn't likely that the person requested a voter registration form. That begs the question of why Rep. Peterson's constituent received the voter registration form.
The answer comes further into the article. Linden Zakula tried spinning it, saying "House Republicans should know that for the past thirty years, state law has required agencies to provide voter registration materials to people who request them. This failure to understand a statutory responsibility demonstrates once again that House Republicans know almost nothing about state government." That's a nice try but it's BS. The constituent was surprised to get the voter registration information because the constituent was already registered. It's difficult to picture a person who's a registered voter requesting voter registration forms.
Further, it's disquieting to find out that each state agency is required to "provide voter registration materials to people" requesting them. If Minnesota wants to make it easy to register to vote, which it does, they should spend money on an advertising campaign each election cycle highlighting the fact that voter registration forms are available from the Secretary of State's office or at county offices. That way, you don't have state employees who are supposed to be working on health insurance issues also helping with voter registration requests.
Later in the article, in fact, Rep. Peterson (pictured below) confirmed that the constituent hadn't requested voter registration information.
MNsure still has difficulties doing its job. Telling it to expand its responsibilities is beyond foolish.
Posted Wednesday, October 26, 2016 11:07 AM
Comment 1 by Janet at 26-Oct-16 12:03 PM
Rep Roz Peterson is my rep - FIRST rate. Thanks, Roz, for the follow through.
Zakula criticizes Speaker Daudt
Linden Bakula, Gov. Dayton's chief mouthpiece, criticized Speaker Kurt Daudt this afternoon, saying that Speaker Daudt's statement was a "temper tantrum." According to this article , Daudt said that Gov. "Dayton needs to stop holding press conferences and start finding solutions to [this] health care crisis."
The important information in Tom Hauser's article came when he wrote that "Premiums will rise by as much as 67 percent in Minnesota's individual market for next year. Dayton has urged legislative leaders to come up with solutions by the end of the month." Earlier today, Speaker Daudt sent a sharply-worded letter to Gov. Dayton that asked Gov. Dayton some questions that Gov. Dayton isn't interested in answering. In fact, Gov. Dayton isn't interested in giving specific answers to Republicans in public. That's why Gov. Dayton is calling on the 4 conference leaders to provide the solutions. It isn't that Gov. Dayton doesn't have any ideas. It's that he doesn't want to share his radical policies with the public right before the election.
Here's one of Speaker Daudt's questions from his letter that's sure to make Gov. Dayton feel uncomfortable:
Due to the caps, Minnesotans in over fifty counties are forced to choose between a capped insurer and an insurer with an average increase of 67 percent. Once enrollment caps are reached, fifty-three counties will have just one choice. In an additional five counties, the only options are insurers with enrollment caps. Once caps are reached, people in those five counties will have no choices.
This is unacceptable and contrary to every promise you and legislative Democrats made when MNsure was launched three years ago. Once enrollment caps are reached, what options will exist for the approximately 20,000 Minnesotans who purchase coverage on their own in those counties ?
What happens to these families? It's clear that the Dayton administration hasn't prepared for this part of the crisis. That's just part of the crisis. Here's another question that Speaker Daudt had for Gov. Dayton:
Despite claims that MNsure's operational and technological problems are a thing of the past, recent performance and federal reports indicate otherwise. Customers faced huge wait times and unhelpful advice just last December. Further, my understanding is that the MNsure site is capable of handling fewer than 700 customers at a time. Given that limitation, the call center could experience volume that far exceeds last December's surge which caused massive delays. Details of how MNsure has improved to meet the demands of open enrollment are appreciated.
The implied question is this: What's the back-up plan to handle the 110,000+ callers who don't have insurance? What happens when MNsure melts down and these families can't purchase their health insurance in time?
In the past, we've seen obscene wait times because MNsure wasn't prepared for that volume of calls. What happens to the people who can't buy health insurance because the Dayton administration didn't do its job? This is a frightening thought operation-wise:
There are approximately 25,000 capped carrier spots for the 112,000 that are in need of new insurance and thousands more that want better options. If enrollment is only checked twice per week, it is likely that thousands of consumers will end up in limbo.
That information leads to these questions:
If caps are exceeded prior to a plan's removal or the posting of a notice of no new enrollment, what will happen to those customers? Similarly, if a customer's odds of securing a capped carrier plan are better by enrolling directly with a carrier, or if the MNsure website is unable to handle the capacity, will those enrollments be honored by MNsure so the person can receive a federal tax credit?
Gov. Dayton has floated along without getting hit with the tough questions thus far. During this crisis, Speaker Daudt has started asking those difficult question. Thus far, Gov. Dayton hasn't answered those questions. At a time when we need executive leadership, Gov. Dayton has been as visible as a ghost.
Posted Wednesday, October 26, 2016 6:14 PM
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Daudt ups MNsure ante
It's clear from reading this MPR article that Speaker Daudt has had it with Gov. Dayton's refusal to provide leadership on fixing what's broken with MNsure and the ACA. It's uncharacteristic of Speaker Daudt to get this upset. Still, I think he's justified in getting upset. Gov. Dayton and the DFL have told us since the creation of MNsure that it was going to be fantastic for Minnesota families.
It hasn't been fantastic. It's been a disaster.
Everyone's focused on the high premium increases in the individual market policies and rightfully so. Still, that's hardly the only heartache that the ACA has caused Minnesota families. Everyone who's bought a bronze-level policy has a high deductible. People not living in the Twin Cities have small networks and few choices when it comes to insurers. That isn't making Minnesota families' lives better. It's pushing them backwards.
Wednesday, Speaker Daudt upped the ante for the DFL and Gov. Dayton. This paragraph sums things up perfectly:
Daudt, who became increasingly irate during a 40-minute news conference, said a special session must address multiple issues, including affordability, access, enrollment caps and the technical operations of the state health insurance exchange MNsure.
Like I said earlier in this post, there's a lot that isn't working within MNsure and the ACA. These are fundamental issues that must be fixed ASAP. The temporary fix that Gov. Dayton and the DFL have proposed doesn't qualify as a Band-Aid, much less a solution. Speaker Daudt then highlighted Gov. Dayton's indifference to solving the MNsure crisis in this paragraph:
Daudt also said Dayton needs to marshal the resources of his administration to deal with the crisis. "And if I find out that those people aren't working 24/7 to find a solution to help these people get health insurance, I'm going to call for Dayton's resignation myself personally," he said. "This is absolutely a dereliction of leadership that he is trying to pass the buck onto others right now."
Knowing that they got stung with that statement, the Dayton administration issued this timid rebuttal:
A spokesperson for the governor said he would not dignify Daudt's "temper tantrum" with a response.
Speaker Daudt's reply wasn't like Gov. Dayton's frequent temper tantrums. Gov. Dayton's temper tantrums happened when he didn't get his way on something. Gov. Dayton's temper tantrums happened because he was acting like a spoiled brat. Speaker Daudt's anger was triggered by Gov. Dayton's incompetence and Gov. Dayton's indifference to fixing the MNsure crisis. Watch this video, then tell me if Speaker Daudt's reactions were those of a spoiled brat (they weren't) or if they were the reactions of a man who's upset with terrible policies and a lack of leadership:
Speaker Daudt, in my opinion, looks like a man fighting to fix a crisis. He looks like a man who's upset with what he thinks is a lack of leadership. It's clear he thinks Gov. Dayton isn't a leader. He's right about that. Speaker Daudt is totally about fixing problems. He's a real leader.
By comparison, Gov. Dayton is an ideologue. (Lt. Gov. Tina Flint-Smith is an ideologue, too.) He isn't a pragmatist, much less a solutions-oriented politician. Technorati: Kurt Daudt , MNsure , Affordability , Access , Enrollment Caps , Deductibles , Health Insurance Exchange , Republicans , Mark Dayton , Affordable Care Act , MNsure Crisis , DFL , Election 2016
Posted Thursday, October 27, 2016 12:05 AM
Comment 1 by Terry Stone at 27-Oct-16 09:09 AM
The DFL is trying to buy some votes--not fix the MNsure problem.
The ACA: about that tiny fraction
Reading Froma Harrop's article provides an opportunity to teach people about the ACA's shortcomings. The headline-grabbing things talk about the individual markets and the health insurance premium increases. There's no question that these topics are worthy of front-page headlines. Still, they aren't the only flaws with the ACA.
The thing that isn't getting headlines but should be is the fundamental flaw of the ACA. Specifically, very little about the ACA was built right. Let's start there. There's no question but that people with pre-existing conditions needed to get insured. Minnesota and other states with high-risk pools had already figured out a way to do that. Rather than copy what was working in Minnesota, President Obama, Sen. Reid and then-Speaker Pelosi took an unproven approach. This year, with huge spikes in health insurance premiums, we're seeing how flawed the ACA's exchanges are.
Back to Ms. Harrop's article and her splitting hairs. Ms. Harrop wrote "Spurred by screaming headlines about "skyrocketing" premiums on some government insurance exchanges, Obamacare foes are dredging up Bill Clinton's colorful quote regarding the Affordable Care Act. No, Clinton didn't call it 'crazy.' This is what Clinton said (after noting that over 20 million more Americans now have health care): 'The people who are out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half. It's the craziest thing in the world.'" She continued, saying this:
Let's put the matter in context and in proportion. Let's do some grown-up explaining. To start, the unsubsidized folks facing 25 percent jumps in premiums (midlevel plans are the benchmark) are a small group. Less than 10 percent of Americans buy insurance on the federal and state exchanges. That's about 12 million people, versus the 155 million who are covered at work. And 86 percent of people on the government exchanges get federal assistance to pay their premiums. More will qualify for subsidies as the premiums go up.
Let's pay attention to something President Clinton said that Ms. Harrop is ignoring:
The people who are out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half . It's the craziest thing in the world.
While Ms. Harrop wants to highlight the fact that more "will qualify for subsidies as the premiums go up", the unpleasant reality is that the ACA has led to fewer choices for Americans. It's also led to people not being able to keep their doctors that they've seen for 20+ years.
While that isn't the definition of crazy, it's certainly the portrait of a system that's malfunctioning.
Posted Thursday, October 27, 2016 8:57 AM
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MNsure: very unfair & deplorable
The politics surrounding the MNsure crisis took a bizarre turn yesterday when a politician stated that "It's a real breakdown in the functioning of the Affordable Care Act", then said "I take it very, very seriously. And I deplore it." That politician wasn't Speaker Daudt, though Daudt had some harsh words to say about MNsure.
The politician who said that the ACA was breaking down and that the letdown was deplorable was Gov. Dayton. Of course, Gov. Dayton didn't propose a plan to fix the MNsure crisis. He left that responsibility to legislators. Whether he likes it or not, Gov. Dayton's responsibility is that of being Minnesota's CEO.
Thus far, Gov. Dayton hasn't shown any leadership during this crisis. The good news is that Republicans, especially Speaker Daudt and Rep. Greg Davids, are trying to solve Minnesota's health insurance crisis. Rep. Davids, the chair of the House Taxes Committee, pictured below, just updated Gov. Dayton, Sen. Bakk, Sen. Hann, Speaker Daudt and Rep. Paul Thissen on what he's working on.
In Chairman Davids' letter, he outlined his priorities rather succinctly, saying "We need fixes that will lower costs, help Minnesotans keep their doctors, and increase their choices." Then he wrote this:
Lower Costs
Create an immediate tax credit that applies to Minnesotans who purchase health insurance both on and off the MNsure exchange that has eligibility beyond current federal subsidies to buy down premium costs. If even one Minnesotan can keep their doctor or find an affordable alternative, Governor Dayton should put the full force of his administration behind lobbying the federal government to allow access to credits off the exchange.
Amen to that, Chairman Davids. Finding solutions that let families keep their doctors and plans must be part of the long-term fix. Anything less is selling families short.
Then there's this:
Keep Doctors
Create a tax credit to reduce out of-network-costs that arise from seeking care from a long-time primary care physician. Minnesotans were promised that if they liked their doctor they could keep their doctor, but too many are losing their long-time doctors due to narrow networks. Continuity of care needs to be addressed to ensure that we do not lose sight of the importance of actual health care when we look at the problems with health insurance coverage .
The ACA guarantees the right to buy insurance. Unfortunately, the accompanying high deductibles make health care unaffordable for too many families. Forcing families to buy insurance that they can't afford to use is immoral. It shouldn't be tolerated. If the DFL insists on tinkering around the edges of this failing system, Republicans in St. Paul and DC should remind the state and the nation that Republicans fought for solutions while Democrats fought for salvaging a failed ideology.
More Choices
Allow Minnesotans to purchase non-qualified health plans (QHPs), and seek a federal waiver to waive tax penalties for those who purchase a non-QHP insurance plan. If the federal government will not approve the waiver, Minnesota should provide a rebate to cover the cost of the non-QHP penalty.
A to the men, Chairman Davids. It's time to tell the federal government that their plan is a total failure and that it's time to do the right thing by American families. Once Minnesota's system, which will be implemented thanks to Republican leadership, starts lowering costs and providing families more choice, the rest of the nation will copy Minnesota's model.
Thus far, Gov. Dayton's efforts have been halfhearted. It's heartwarming to see Republicans like Speaker Daudt and Chairman Davids providing leadership in solving Minnesota's health insurance and health care crises. It's disheartening to see Gov. Dayton and the DFL essentially sitting on the sidelines and proposing tinker-around-the-edges non-solutions.
UPDATE: This is a copy of Chairman Davids' letter:
Rep. Davids letter to Governor Dayton and Legislative Leaders by Minnesota House Republicans on Scribd
Originally posted Thursday, October 27, 2016, revised 28-Oct 12:36 AM
Comment 1 by Lady Logician at 27-Oct-16 09:36 PM
Meanwhile, in unicorn ville (aka DC), President Obama thinks that things are just hunky dory with the ACA and that those of us who are being killed by high premiums and deductibles are "bugs on the windshield" that need to be cleaned off....I kid you not.
http://twitchy.com/sd-3133/2016/10/27/splat-potus-latest-obamacare-metaphor-spits-right-in-americans-faces/
LL
