The following is a letter I sent to CSP with the questions I wasn’t able to ask at her town hall event at the Laconia City Hall on Thursday, April 1, 2010. I will post any response I get.

RE: Questions and Comments from the April 1, 2010 Town Hall Meeting in Laconia, NH

Please provide a response.

I would like to thank you for holding a town hall meeting here, in Laconia on April 1^st. I am a City Councilor for Ward 1 in Laconia and attended the meeting. I was not able to ask questions at the event but wish to now. Some of my questions are from personal concerns and some are from concerns I have for my city and the businesses here.

1) To start off you mentioned the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in your opening remarks and in response to a question posed during the event. I have looked through the bill and the CBO scoring that has been provided. I was wondering why you supported a bill that according to the CBO will cause the loss of an estimated 1.6 Million jobs in this country? It seems to me that there was a much better way to achieve the main goal of providing affordable coverage for insurance and eliminating the “pre-existing condition” practice with a more free-market approach that was offered and outright rejected on partisan lines as amendments at the beginning of this process. These approaches would not only have achieved the stated goal but also created jobs in the health care industry.

2) This bill does absolutely nothing in the area of torte reform and we both know that the skyrocketing costs of medical malpractice insurance, along with the practice of extra testing to eliminate potential litigation, are large drivers in the overall healthcare costs that grow faster than the rate of inflation. Why was nothing done to address this issue other than an advisory commission to explore the issue? We both know that there are a few different ways to kill a proposed legislation and among them are creating a commission that will only meet a few times and will provide a meaningless report that will just sit there with nothing done.

3) This bill will change the enrollment criteria for Medicaid, which will put additional expenses on the states to pay for the people newly qualified individuals. I am sure you are aware that the low Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements are another large driving force in the high medical inflation rate. I am also sure that you are aware that NH can’t afford the Medicare/Medicaid it currently has, as reflected in the lowest reimbursement rates in the nation. The state passes these costs onto the property taxpayers and hospitals to absorb the loss. Was this one of the “good” aspects of this healthcare legislation you voted for?

4) When asked at the event about why anyone would trust a government run program given the fact that Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are near insolvency you responded about other government entities that run well. You spoke about the military and the highway system. 

First off, the military is not an entitlement program but is required in the constitution. Secondly, do you expect me to believe that the federal highway system, which also is not an entitlement program, is an example of proper management? It was not so long ago that we were told that our highways are in serious disrepair with bridges failing and that we needed an extra $109 Million to help restore them. This doesn’t sound like it is properly run system to me.

I would like for you to answer the original question as it relates to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

5) The revelation that this healthcare bill will actually increase premiums on younger individuals by 17% sounds like this bill doesn’t even achieve the state goal of reducing healthcare costs. Why is this legislation better than one of the alternatives that would actually reduce the costs across the board?

6) The recent revelation that this bill could single handedly kill the ski industry because of the extra expenses or fines for seasonal employees extends well beyond the winter ski industry. As a City Councilor I am especially worried about the summer tourist industry, which is the largest economic factor in Laconia and the Lakes Region. Can you explain to the lodging, restaurant, and attraction businesses that participate in the summer tourist season what you will do to help them avoid the added expenses that will need to be met due to your vote?

I have many more questions concerning healthcare but I will just stick to these six for right now. I would like a complete response to each of these questions in writing and not one of your generic boilerplate letters you usually send out when you don’t want to answer questions. I would also like the answers to be on point and not the talking points that are so often used in answering the tough questions.

Sincerely,

Greg Knytych

Ward 1 City Councilor

Laconia, NH 03246