The former Blue Dog Democrat (Parker Griffith) and newly self proclaimed conservative Republican once again voted against North Alabama's small businesses and families. With his health care vote, he further cemented his status as a champion for large insurance companies. Please follow our campaign to defeat this self serving professional politician on our website at www.howieforcongress.com
I had a conversation last week with a gentleman named Robert Hughes in Muscle Shoals. Mr. Hughes asked me if I were in Congress, would I vote for the healthcare reform bill that was being debated.
I shared with Mr. Hughes some of my concerns that, even though the bill reduces the federal government's budget deficit, it might not have the muscle to bring down costs for healthcare for most families in North Alabama. Also, with 30 million new, federally-subsidized customers, and no public option or Medicare-for-all, I wondered if this bill might end up being a give-away to the big insurance corporate interests that got our healthcare system into this ditch to begin with.
I told Mr. Hughes that there were some things about the bill that I did like. In 2010, seniors whose drug costs put them into Medicare Part D's donut hole, will get a $250 rebate to help offset those costs. Over the next ten years, the bill would shrink the donut hole so that in a decade, all prescription drugs covered by Medicare Part D will be paid for 75% by the program.
As I talked with Mr. Hughes, I thought about the fact that, under the provisions of the bill, Alabamians will no longer be able to be denied coverage by their insurance companies, because of pre-existing conditions, and they'll be able to seek preventative care without worrying about exorbitant copays. Pulling this all off while reducing the deficit sounds like a pretty good deal. In fact, once the Congressional Budget Office's final estimate on the merged package came out, I set aside my reservations and decided that if I were in Congress I could vote for this bill and know that I'm voting for the small businesses and families of North Alabama.
The fifth district's current Republican Congressman, Parker Griffith, on the other hand, made it clear that under no circumstances would he support the bill. Since his political party flip-flop in December, he became something of a mascot for Republican opposition to healthcare reform, despite the fact that the National Republican Congressional Committee aired a TV ad just a year and half ago, citing an independent review that accused Griffith of misconduct and profiteering off of his patients.
Back on March 6th, he was tapped by his Republican Party bosses to deliver a rebuttal to the President's Weekly Message. Disappointingly, but not surprisingly, he took an opportunity that could have been used to talk about our district, to parrot the same half-truths and talking points that Republicans have offered in place of solutions since the healthcare reform debate began, over a year ago. In place of real solutions, Congressman Griffith and the Washington Republicans offered more tax cuts for the rich, and incentives for insurance companies to cover the healthy and the wealthy, while working families struggle against the status quo.
I gave the issue some very serious thought and came to appreciate that a vote for this healthcare reform bill would be a vote to reduce the federal budget deficit by $130 billion over the next ten years and over a trillion over the next. If I could, I would eagerly vote to insert a degree of protection into the healthcare coverage of 430,000 of our neighbors in the fifth congressional district, and to bring another 51,000 into the ranks of the insured. I would absolutely vote to ensure that the thousands of individuals in North Alabama who could have been denied coverage because of their pre-existing conditions, were not left without care when they needed it the most. And I would vote to bring $23.4 million in new investment to North Alabama's 18 community health centers. I would have, but Parker Griffith did not.
My grandfather, Dr. Virgil Howie was a doctor in this community who knew what service was about. He had one of the area's first medical practices with an integrated waiting room, and during the 1950s and 1960s, he and the rest of my family faced death threats for their support of civil rights protesters. It is to continue this tradition of service that I am working for the opportunity to serve Alabama's fifth district in Congress, to ensure that the provisions of this bill can be put in place in a way that supports our neighbors and their small businesses, rather than the insurance companies.
It's my belief that North Alabama needs a Congressman who is committed to service, and who will look at issues like healthcare reform in terms of what they can do for the folks right here in North Alabama, not for how they can be exploited for political points. The passage of the healthcare reform bill provides some glimmer of hope that Congress might find its way back to solving problems. North Alabama can lead the way by electing a Congressman who's unbeholden to the special interests and unafraid to face the tough problems.
So if Mr. Hughes is reading this today, I'd like to let him know, if I were in Congress, in light of all of the benefits that this bill will bring to our community, I would have have voted for this bill. However, I'm not in Congress yet; Parker Griffith is. And when Parker Griffith chose to vote against this bill, he chose to vote against North Alabama.