St. Louis Beacon - Blunt attempts to shift campaign focus to proposed repeal of federal health care changes

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Blunt attempts to shift campaign focus to proposed repeal of federal health care changes

By Jo Mannies, Beacon political reporter

Posted 7:50 pm Thu., 5.27.10

Missouri's best-known Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate -- U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Springfield -- is seeking to redirect attention from his battle with Democrats over oil to his earlier call to repeal the health-care changes recently signed into law.

Blunt, chairman of the House Republicans' Health Care Solutions Group, says he has signed onto the latest GOP effort "to repeal the Washington Democrats’ government takeover of health care and replace it with common-sense solutions to increase access and lower costs for patients."

Among other things, Blunt contends that the Democratic-backed changes will cost more than President Barack Obama's administration has acknowledged.

The GOP counterproposals call for limits on malpractice lawsuits, allows small businesses to set up larger pools for the purpose of buying coverage for employees at lower costs, and allowing insurance plans to be purchased across state lines.

In a statement, Blunt reinterated earlier comments on the subject: "The majority of Americans oppose this onerous new federal law. The job-killing, budget-busting provisions in this law will bury our nation under a sea of red tape and pile mountains of debt on our children and grandchildren.

"What we’ve introduced today will repeal this law and replace it with legislation to increase access to health care and keep costs low for families and small businesses. This replacement tackles a number of important issues, including junk lawsuits, small business health plans and portability across state lines."

Comments

#1 Reese Forbes 2010-05-28 12:44

Blunt does not have a single "common-sense" solution, in fact he opposed any common sense solution that had ever been proposed and/or enacted.
Malpractice suits have nothing to with the cost of medical care for most people. The ability to sue increases the quality of medical care for everyone. Other than that it is a judicial problem that can be solved without regard to healthcare. Small business can join together, and do, to set up groups that reduce the individual cost of medical care now, so Blunt calling for this means nothing. The administration plan allows for insurance to be purchased across state lines, so again Blunt has no idea.

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