Why I support Feehan

To the Editor:

Several people have asked me why I support Dan Feehan for Congress. There are so many reasons that it can get to be a lengthy conversation.

One of the reasons became obvious recently when Jim Hagedorn proudly voted against allowing Medicare price negotiation, which would lower the cost of prescription drugs. People all across the district are being forced to make choices between skipping medication they need, putting food on their table or paying their mortgage.

In the face of skyrocketing prescription drug prices, Jim Hagedorn, who has taken more than $130,000 from corporate donors, is siding with Big Pharma over Minnesotans in our district.

Dan Feehan rejects this type of Washington, D.C., politics. In fact, he will not take a dime from Big Pharma or any other corporate PACs. Dan is running a people-powered campaign so that when he gets to Congress he will not be beholden to the pharmaceutical industry or any other lobbyists. He will put people first and work for all of us here in southern Minnesota — and no one else.

That is why I support Dan Feehan for Congress.

Joy Rowan Pollock

Fairmont

Protecting high-quality care

To the Editor:

The attack lodged by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on the Mayo Clinic highlights the grave threat posed to private, patient-centered medicine by a Democrat Party bent on imposing socialized medicine on the American people.

Sanders says more should be done to support rural Americans and the health care institutions serving rural areas. On this we agree. But I strongly reject the pie-in-the-sky notions offered by Sanders and the Democrat Party to micromanage the business decisions of U.S. medical providers.

Instead, we must address the cost burdens of excessive federal regulations and the substandard-reimbursement for Medicare and Medicaid services — both of which disproportionately and negatively impact rural medical institutions and residents.

The Sanders-Democrat Party’s socialist policies will reduce reimbursements to doctors and hospitals; rescind private health insurance; and destroy our high-quality medical care. Lower federal reimbursements for medical services will neither sustain Mayo’s model of medical excellence nor properly fund smaller, predominantly rural hospitals. Most assuredly, lower reimbursements will greatly exacerbate the consolidation and closure of rural hospitals.

Southern Minnesota is blessed with an array of outstanding rural hospitals and the Mayo Clinic, the preeminent institution of medicine in the world. Mayo, with its Three Shields of clinical practice, education and research, delivers the finest medical care imaginable.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of people from the United States and around the globe travel to southern Minnesota for medical care. The jobs of an estimated 100,000 First District residents are, directly and indirectly, tied to health care. This includes 40,000 direct Mayo Clinic jobs in the Rochester area.

Make no mistake, Democrats’ socialist policies will grossly under-fund medical services, degrade the quality of medical care, destroy high-wage jobs and Rochester’s vibrant economy, and shutter rural hospitals.

To defend and sustain our medical institutions and world-class medicine, I will fight for commonsense policies to create nationwide health insurance competition; require price transparency to enable medical care shopping; reduce onerous federal regulations; enhance telemedicine; expand the use of pre-tax dollars for health care; and, create high-risk pools to ensure that all Americans are afforded timely, quality medical care and access to life-saving treatments and procedures.

As your congressman, I will protect our brand of high-quality medical care and always defend the jobs and economic interests of our residents, businesses and institutions.

U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn,

R-Minnesota