PLECHASH: MINNESOTANS NEED LOWER COSTS, NOT MORE KLOBUCHAR TALK
“Today, Amy Klobuchar rolled out a health-care plan that offers struggling Minnesota families more of what they have come to expect from her: task forces, coalitions, government websites, talking points and press conferences.
“Minnesotans are paying more for insurance, prescriptions and medical care right now. They do not need another meeting in a government conference room. They need actual relief.
“Klobuchar was one of the 60 deciding votes for Obamacare and has spent nearly 20 years in the United States Senate. After all that time in Washington, her big answer is to convene employers, partner with institutions, launch an innovation network, build another cost-comparison tool and advocate for the federal government to act.
“That is not a plan to lower health-care costs. It is a plan to hold meetings about lowering health-care costs.
“She provides no total price tag, no funding source, no specific target for reducing premiums and no explanation of which taxes she would raise to pay for new subsidies, tax credits, grants and government programs.
“Even her fraud proposal embraces the same basic principle Republicans have advanced through the WALZ Act: verify services, identify suspicious activity and stop questionable payments before taxpayer money disappears. If she agrees, she should support the WALZ Act in the Senate now—not hold another press conference and campaign on the idea later.
“Her fraud promises are also an indictment of Tim Walz and years of DFL failure. Screening providers, detecting billing anomalies and freezing suspicious payments are basic safeguards that should have been in place before Minnesota became the fraud capital of the country.
“Where was Amy Klobuchar while fraud exploded? Where was she while families watched their health-care bills rise? And why, after nearly 20 years in Washington, is her answer still another coalition, another task force and another website?
“Minnesotans are suffering under the cost of health care and high taxes. They deserve results, not more meetings. They deserve lower bills, not more talking points. And they deserve a governor who will take action—not spend four years staging press conferences about problems she failed to solve during two decades in Washington.”