Minnick: Health care reform will return

SANDPOINT — U.S. Rep. Walt Minnick, D-Idaho, told a town hall gathering Friday he was glad to be home and to get out of the “conflict and finger-pointing” of Washington, D.C.

The first-term conservative Democrat faced a barrage of questions ranging from health care reform to economic development to partisan politics.

Minnick said health care reform will be back this year but that it will take on a more bipartisan feel.

“Both sides agree we spend too much on below-average health care in America,” he said.

Minnick stated the U.S.:

• Pays more per capita on health care than any country. Seventeen percent of the country’s gross national product is spent on health care while most of the industrial world spends 10 percent.

• Is in the middle of the industrialized world for life expectancy and birth rate.

“We get less bang for our buck than any industrialized country,” he said.

Minnick is part of a bipartisan group that is meeting to restore a leaner, meaner reform bill that he thinks will pass.

He even predicted that his Idaho GOP counterparts could sign on.

Included in the bill is insurance reform, antitrust protection, insurance competition across state lines and malpractice reform.

“This doesn’t solve the problem of 30 million people being uninsured but it also doesn’t cost nearly what the current bill does,” Minnick said.

When asked if the GOP would support this idea, Minnick reminded the audience that there are many leaders across party lines who want to help.

“Don’t believe that all your representatives believe the same thing as what you see from leadership on TV,” he said. “The Republicans have to decide if there is more to gain by continuing to say no to everything or agreeing to move forward.”

On other topics, Minnick:

• Stated the U.S. needs to move quickly to encourage natural gas usage in the country’s truck and bus fleet.

• Supported starting construction of nuclear processing and reprocessing plants to help ease the dependence on foreign oil.

• Said Idaho should find a way to keep the Human Rights Commission because of “Idaho’s bad press and checkered past” and other reasons. He called it “symbolic and important.”

• Backed President Barack Obama’s plan for college loan forgiveness if the graduate goes into public service.

Minnick also toured Luther Park and the Sand Creek Byway construction project on Friday.