Alan Grayson

Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., warned Americans that “Republicans want you to die quickly” during an after-hours House floor speech Tuesday night.

His remarks, which drew angry and immediate calls for an apology from Republicans, were highlighted by a sign reading “The Republican Health Care Plan: Die Quickly.”

Veteran Tennessee Republican Jimmy Duncan abandoned customary reticence to chastise Grayson.

“That is about the most mean-spirited partisan statement that I’ve ever heard made on this floor, and I, for one, don’t appreciate it,” Duncan said.

“It’s fully appropriate that the gentleman return to the floor and apologize,” said Rep. Marsha Blackburn, another Tennessee Republican.

But none was forthcoming from Grayson, who said the first part of the GOP approach to health care is: Don’t get sick.

“If you get sick, America, the Republican health care plan is this: Die quickly,” he said.

Jim Greer

Tallahassee– Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer tonight issued the following statement regarding President Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress.

“The President’s speech tonight was a good effort in discussing this important issue with the American public. I, along with many people, believe that our health care system has challenges which must be addressed and while I agreed with much of what the President had to say, there is still much that I cannot support when it comes to government run health care and the many unanswered questions that still exist.

“At the end of the day, the President was right when he said that the need for bipartisanship cooperation is crucial to passing health care reform legislation that all Americans can support.”

About the title:  I have decided to keep naming Greer “Boss” after his present party purging efforts which are reminiscent of a “Godfather” movie.

The following is a statement from Congressman Alan Grayson in response to President Barack Obama’s speech tonight to a Joint Session of Congress regarding health care reform:

Alan Grayson

“Tonight, the President laid out his plan for health care reform that will bring stability and security to health care in America.  He and I both want it to deliver peace of mind for everyone.  If you change jobs, lose your job, or lose your health, you should be able to get affordable health insurance. Under the President’s plan, you will be able to.

Recently, I held four “town hall”-type meetings and a telephone town hall meeting during eight days in August alone.  Health care questions dominated these forums.  During those events, I corrected many misconceptions about health care reform.  Tonight, President Obama likewise dispelled the countless myths spread by those bent on defeating this reform at all costs.  People need to judge health care reform on the facts, not on fears stemming from something that is nowhere in the bill.

Clearly, the need for health care reform is on the minds of the people I proudly represent. According to the Marist Poll last month, only six percent of America favors doing nothing.  Doing nothing is not an option.  As we move forward, I look forward to working with all sides to ensure the best ideas become part of this essential reform.

Finally, I often get asked if I will support a bill that does not include one provision or another.  My answer is simple:  I will support any bill that saves money and saves lives.”

Bill Nelson

BARTOW | Health care reform will pass Congress this year, but without many of the current provisions in House Bill and without a public health-care option, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson predicted today during a swing through Polk County.

Nelson was in the county to tour Summerlin Academy, a military-style public school in Bartow, and for a lunch with members of Citrus Mutual in Lakeland.

During a question-and-answer session with Summerlin cadets, Nelson said the House version of health-care reform cannot get the necessary 60 votes to avoid a filibuster and pass in the Senate.

Nelson later told The Ledger in an interview that he doesn’t think the option to have a public health-care plan can draw the necessary votes to pass the Senate.

“The public option is only one of hundreds of issues concerned with health care reform,” he said. “Public option means different things to different people. Some people think of it as socialized medicine, but that type is not, and has not ever been, considered. Still, any public option will not pass.”

The Senate has not written its version of the health-care reform bill yet. Work on that will begin Sept. 8 when the Senate reconvenes, and it will come out of the Senate Finance Committee, on which Nelson sits, probably sometime in late September.

“A big part of (the bill) will be shoring up Medicare and Medicaid. We do not have a bill yet because the Senate does not have consensus. We tried all summer to get consensus,” he said.

“I want consensus so that we can have as many people as possible with health care coverage, and we cannot get the 60 votes in the Senate with any public option,” Nelson said.

Nelson said it’s easy to understand the need for reforming health care in America.

“Go talk to someone whose employer’s insurance company has dropped coverage for the company,’’ he said.

For Nelson’s thoughts on other legislation pending before Congress and his answers to questions posed by Ledger readers, check back here and read Tuesday print edition of The Ledger.

Bill Posey

MELBOURNE, FL – Congressman Bill Posey (R-Rockledge) has announced that the location of next week’s Healthcare Town Hall Meeting has changed due to an overwhelming response by interested constituents. The new location will be at the King Center at Brevard Community College, approximately 3 miles from the original location. Staff will be present at the Holiday Inn (the old location) to direct constituents to the King Center in order to help citizens who did not receive notice of the venue change.

“We’ve gotten a tremendous response,” said Congressman Posey. “Three days after announcing the location of our event, we more than doubled the available capacity of the original location.  We want to be able to comfortably accommodate as many constituents as possible and the King Center at Brevard Community College can help us meet the growing demand.”

“I want to thank everyone at the Holiday Inn, Brevard Community College and the Brevard Community College King Center for offering their facilities in service to our community,” added Posey.

The event will include presentations by Congressman Posey and Mr. Dennis Smith, former Director of the Federal Center for Medicaid and State Operation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A panel of representatives from local health care providers, medical practitioners, and the business community will also be available to field questions from residents. Congressman Posey sent both President Obama and Vice-President Biden an invitation to attend the forum as well.

What: Healthcare Town Hall Meeting

When: Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Time: 6:30 – 8:30pm

Where: The King Center at Brevard Community College

3865 N. Wickham Road

Melbourne, FL 32935

Map of the Brevard Community College Campus:

http://www.brevard.cc.fl.us/pdf/maps/melbourne.pdf

Open to all Residents of Florida’s 15^th Congressional District

RSVP appreciated but not required.

RSVP online at www.posey.house.gov/RSVP/

RSVP by Phone: 321-632-1776

*If you have already RSVP’ed, you do not need to re-register for the event.

Last week Posey sent copies of the 1,017 page health care reform proposal to the main public libraries of both Osceola and Indian River Counties and has made a copy of the bill available to constituents who want to read it in his Melbourne office as well.

Over the last several months, Congressman Posey has been gathering input from constituents, local health care professionals, and policy experts on health care reform and how Congress should proceed. Last month, Posey held two telephone town hall meetings with constituents on the topic, has hosted several roundtable discussions with local health care experts, and toured community health centers in Indian River County.

Posey, who has received thousands of letters, emails and phone calls from constituents, said that it is important to hear from residents about what they like and don’t like about their current health care plans and reiterated his pledge that he “will not vote for legislation in its final form that he has not been afforded proper time to read and evaluate.”

Alan Grayson

With hundreds of vocal health care reform critics and supporters lining the streets outside, U.S. Rep Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, held a spirited but civil town hall meeting Monday night inside a union hall where his supporters outnumbered critics, but questions initially came from all sides of the debate.

In the first hour, debate centered on how issues such as pre-existing medical conditions would be handled and if the reform would allow people to hold current health plans. Grayson at one point went through the exact language of a pending bill and argued the wording of it posted on an overhead projector detailed that it would protect a citizen’s right to keep the health insurance they already have.

At another point, a woman critical of the pending reform said prostate and breast cancer were treated differently in the reform bill. Grayson challenged that, but said if true, he would offer an amendment to change it.

However, Grayson told a handful of critics that they were raising issues — dealing with tort reform or Medicare fraud — that were not included in bills pending before him in the House.

“I think you’re concerns are well founded,” Grayson said. “But that’s not this bill.”

The hastily-called meeting was held in a relatively small union hall which limited attendance to about 120 or so members of the public. But it was held just after a regular meeting of local Democrats, some of whom stayed behind for the town hall in the scarce seats.

Outside the union hall, a frustrated crowd of hundreds of people who could not get into the hall waved signs and chanted simultaneously for and against health care.

There were so many different chants that they were unintelligible. At one point, Andy Showen, 49, of Orlando, angry he couldn’t get in, pulled on a side door until police officers stopped him.

“You’re a real hero,” he told an officer. “You just stopped me from talking to my congressman.”

He put up his wrists, asking officers to arrest him. They walked him away instead.

Police cars blocked off the streets in an attempt to calm protesters  And overall the event was peaceful.

Despite all the shouting, some voters actually talked to each other. Earlier, Showen, who describes himself as a “libertarian capitalist,” talked with a woman who said capitalism was immoral, he said. They never agreed on health care, but shared similar views on executive compensation.

Others were more frustrated.

“I’ve given up,” said Carmen Simeone, a 60-year old general contractor, who opted just to protest outside. “I understand what’s going  on. He’s stacked the deck.”

Simeone said he’s troubled that health reform will usher in “socialism,” expose his bank accounts to government scrutiny, and limit access to doctors.

Inside, Jim Panetta said he feared the reform would encourage everyone to drop coverage they pay for and get free care from the government.

Grayson said only people with lower incomes would get government aid to buy insurance. But he said pharmaceutical companies are also agreeing to receive less money for drugs purchased by public health programs, and that $80 billion savings could be used to offset any new costs.

“This is not free health care for everybody,” Grayson said. “It’s not close to it.”

Grayson also said he would back including a public option in any final plan, mainly because there are so few private insurance options available in most metropolitan areas of the country. A public option is likely to take the form of a government-run provider network that could possibly resemble Medicare.

“There is a profound lack of competition, that is only getting worse,” Grayson said. But, he added, “no one would be required to be in the public option.”

Inside, both sides cheered comments to their liking, and only a few times did Grayson ask the crowd to stay under control. At one point, he asked a man to “knock off the bull,” because his three children were in the room.

“I’m not saying I know everything,” Grayson said. “But I’m pretty familiar with this bill. Let’s be respectful.”

The line that drew the most spirited response: “This bill cost half what the war in Iraq cost,” Grayson said.

I have read many interesting letters from people in support of a national or socialistic healthcare plan. One has to ponder, what would the Founders want? Interestingly enough we know what they wanted. We can look to our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution for guidance.

Thomas Jefferson once said, “A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned – this is the sum of good government”

I support Adam Putnam’s stance on the healthcare issue. He has stated in another area newspaper that he supports a “Free Market System”. I believe the founders would support his position as well.

What is it going to take for people to start realizing that the Government is not the answer to our problems? Government overstepping its boundaries is the problem. When we stop taking planks from the Communist Manifesto and applying them to our lives our society will begin to heal!

It is pointless to call the current measure Health Care Reform. When has Government involvement in the Private Sector ever made anything more efficient or cost effective? I believe this Reform move is more of a power grab that will haunt future generations of Americans.

Carey Baker

Saying they are giving Floridians a chance to “fight back”, State Senator Carey Baker (R-Eustis) and State Representative Scott Plakon (R-Longwood) filed legislation yesterday to amend Florida’s Constitution to prohibit any law or rule from forcing people into a one size fits all, federally mandated health care system such as that being rushed through Congress. HJR 37 and the Senate companion legislation would preserve the freedom of our citizens to choose the kind of care they want or need.

“Today, we’re drawing the line in the sand. It is bad enough that our federal government wants to choose your doctor and ration your treatment,” Baker said. “But to do so virtually in secret and in such a rush proves that the goal is not to get better health care but to get socialized health care. Congress’ plan even penalizes people that want to pay for their own lawful health care services. That’s just wrong.”

“The federal government and its bureaucracies dictating who, when and what kind of treatment you receive is not reform at all,” said Representative Plakon. “Senator Baker and I feel it is our duty to step up and reassert the rights of Floridians, in this case protecting our citizens’ rights and freedoms to make appropriate decisions as it relates to their own health care. We believe this unprecedented power-grab by President Obama and Congress is clearly not in the best interests of the citizens of Florida.”

Plakon added historical context to this important legislation, pointing out that in 1787, Dr. Benjamin Rush, America’s foremost respected physician of his time, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, worked diligently to have the protection of “medical freedom” as a key addition to the US Constitution. Dr. Rush warned that medicine could become “an undercover dictatorship and force people who wish doctors and treatment of their own choice to submit to only what the dictating outfit offers.”

Baker and Plakon agreed that America’s health care system provides the most advanced health care opportunities in the world and that totally dismantling it is a dangerous step backwards. They went on to say that the fear of the federal government rationing care is a very real consequence of the legislation Congress is trying to ram through. Both said that efforts to improve health care access and affordability are important, but that the starting point in those efforts must start with protecting people’s freedom in choosing doctors, treatments and insurance options.

To amend Florida’s Constitution, the Florida House and Senate must pass the referendum language in next year’s legislative session with a super majority (3/5) voting in favor. Then the measure goes before the voters in the 2010 November general election and must pass with at least 60% voting in favor.
ABOUT CAREY BAKER: Senator Carey Baker has served in the Florida Army National Guard for over 28 years. Most recently, he was deployed for a year in Iraq’s Sunni Triangle during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Carey is also the owner of the nation’s oldest continuously operating gun shop, the A.W. Peterson Gun Shop in Mount Dora, Florida.

Carey currently represents Florida’s 20th District in the State Senate, which includes parts of Lake, Marion, Volusia, Seminole and Sumter Counties. He has announced his candidacy for Florida Commissioner of Agriculture (www.careybaker.com), a position that oversees the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and is one of four statewide elected members of the Florida Cabinet.