Letter to the Editor: GOP Slams Burnsville's Masin for Support of Health Bill

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To the Editor:  

What are the priorities of your state representatives Laurie Halverson and Sandra Masin?  

In the past two weeks, Reps. Halverson and Masin voted to give control of your health insurance and health care decisions to seven politically appointed, unelected bureaucrats in St. Paul—all who have absolutely no health industry expertise.  

This seven-member super agency answers to no one, has access to spend your taxpayer dollars without discretion, picks winners and losers as to who can sell insurance, and will inflate your insurance costs by collecting up to 3.5 percent of plan premiums just to fund its operations. Even worse, this gross premium tax will be imposed in 2014 to build a huge slush fund for the health insurance exchange, despite the fact that the federal government is funding exchange operations through 2014.  

In other words, Reps. Halverson and Masin voted to give seven people unlimited power that will inevitably lead to unlimited corruption.  

Reps. Halverson and Masin had the opportunity to stand up for your district’s middle class, small businesses, and even Blue Cross/Blue Shield—those who will be hit the hardest and whose future health care and livelihood will be in jeopardy because of this super agency.  

They did not.  

In fact, Reps. Halverson and Masin voted in lockstep with Democrat Party leaders to replace our nation-leading health system with something that is untested and costs taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

We hope Rep. Halverson and Rep. Masin will reconsider their votes and help to craft legislation that works within our existing health care system that is vibrant, competitive, and nation-leading. Together we can ensure Minnesotans maintain control of their health care destiny.  

House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt and Rep. Joe Hoppe