Congress had a raucous recess this time around, suffice to say. Most representatives and senators went back to their districts to hold town hall meetings with constituents concerning reforming the health care “crisis.”

Most were met with strong disapproval, to say the least, and as evidenced lately, the arrogance of the ruling class did not let us down with snide, condescending comments. Rep. Barney Frank’s, D-Massachusetts said “it’s like talking to a dining room table” to a constituent at a town hall, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called ordinary, concerned citizens “Nazis.”

My question is where was the Maine delegation? There were some business round-table discussions and walks in some downtown districts, but no open town halls. The biggest issue ordinary folks with health care reform is the public option portion of this plan, yet there were no forums to listen to concerns from constituents in a face-to-face manner.

Why do Mainers have such an issue with this part of the plan? Do the words Dirigo Health mean anything to you?

How has Dirigo worked for Maine so far? On Wednesday, President Barack Obama gave his speech to let us know what he really wants in the health reform bill Congress will address in the last part of the session. The Obama administration had floated trial balloons during the break about the public option being included in the health reform package. First it was the cornerstone, but after the backlash from many Americans, it was said it would be dropped. Then in his speech, the president strongly supported a public option.

Stay tuned for the next flip flop.

The concern I have with this proposal is we are about to get national Dirigo Health. I know, libs are going to attack me as an uncaring right-wing extremist. (That’s unfair. I’m not uncaring!)

First off, many catchphrases being thrown now are about the same as when our Legislature was debating Dirigo. We only want to include pre-existing conditions, open up competition for everyone, insure all people … blah, blah, blah. The reality is Dirigo hasn’t worked for Maine and will not work on a national level. In fact, we can also hold “Kentucky Care” and “Tenn Care” up as failures as well. In both of these trials, the cost consumed over 40 percent of the state budget and almost bankrupted the states.

In Maine, the estimates was Dirigo would cover the “180,000 uninsured.” The reality is Dirigo never covered above 18,000 people at any one time. Nationally, there are some 20-50 million uninsured. The estimates released by the president’s own experts and the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) predict that 17 million will still not be insured and will “fall through the cracks,” even with a public option.

Dirigo did accomplish one objective though: drive out competition and push us toward single-payer, nationalized health care. That is the liberal objective!

I suggest going online and reading about the health care reform legislation. You will be shocked to read the legislation from Sen. Max Baucus, D-Monatana, part of the “Gang of Six” which has been working on a compromise package. (The “Gang of 6” also includes Maine’s own Senator Snowe, but I digress.)

This legislation pays for the public option with many funding mechanisms. Foremast, it will repeal most of the tax cuts provided by President Bush. This sums it up: Make the “rich” pay for all of it! Who do they define as rich? The family making over $150,000 a year? This includes most small business people filing as an “S Corp.” This legislation also includes the public option – aka Dirigo National – and promises to let people “keep your insurance if you want to.”

Excuse me, but when did President Obama and the Congress take control over my insurance?

The only thing we can do is continue to voice our opinion, loud and clear. It may seem now that our Congressional delegation isn’t listening, but the louder we get, they will have no option but to do what we the people are telling them.

Scott Lansley is chairman of the Androscoggin County Republican Committee, a former legislator and current selectman in Sabattus. E-mail:
[email protected].