Senate candidates agree that health care system needs change
By Janet Kubat Willette
Agri News staff writer
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
MINNEAPOLIS — Health care costs are out of control, three Democratic Senate candidates agreed.
The nation’s health care system is unsustainable, said Ford Bell, president of the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation. There are 46 million uninsured in this country.
People say they don’t want a big government bureaucracy in charge of their health care, Bell said. Instead, the U.S. has a private bureaucracy.
He advocates single-payer universal health care coverage for everyone.
Amy Klobuchar agreed. Klobuchar is Hennepin County Attorney.
Universal health care should start with children, Klobuchar said. The government also needs to crack down on costs by negotiating with prescription drug companies for Medicare recipients. The federal government also needs to evaluate how it does Medicare reimbursements, she said.
Child and family advocate Patty Wetterling said it simply boils down to health care for every man, woman and child in this country.
The trio answered questions from Minnesota Farmers Union members during a panel discussion at the annual meeting Nov. 19.
Rep. Mark Kennedy, R-Watertown, who is also running for the seat Sen. Mark Dayton is vacating in 2006, was unable to attend, according to a MFU spokesman.
Klobuchar said it’s time for results and leadership in Washington, D.C. That means Social Security is a guarantee and not a gamble. That means implementing Country of Origin Labeling for beef, not just seafood. It means investing in energy cooperatives in the Midwest instead of oil cartels in the Mid East.
Wetterling said the nation is in a war against competing values. She’s seen the casualties of low prices at any cost. Ways of life disappear if they aren’t defended, she said. How much progress will the nation make if greed is the only guidepost and companies are allowed to pollute and take advantage of striped-down human rights abroad?
Bell said the nation’s farm programs are outdated and need to be refocused for family farmers. He supports a $250,000 subsidy cap, adopting COOL, allowing 1031 dollars to be invested in rural projects that create jobs and supporting rural renewable fuel development.
On the Web: Ford Bell, www.fordbell.com; Amy Klobuchar, www.amyklobuchar.com; Patty Wetterling, www.pattywetterling.com