McConnell: Action needed on health insurance – Richmond Register

GLASGOW Protesters stood at one entrance of a shopping center in western Kentucky on Thursday, holding signs and shouting health care not wealth care as they waited for U.S. Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to arrive.

He made two stops in Glasgow after attending the dedication of a new interchange on Interstate 65 in Warren County at the Kentucky Transpark.

McConnell's first stop in Glasgow was at the T.J. Health Pavilion where he spoke to members of the Glasgow Rotary Club and their guests, as well as members of the media, touching on a variety of topics including Neil Gorsuch's appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, tax reform, Democrats and Republicans' efforts to work together to resolve issues and the media's perception that only bad news is newsworthy.

Af first, he had very little to say about the proposed changes to the federal health care bill, other than to say that it was an issue where Republicans in the Senate are not anticipating receiving very much Democratic support.

Later, when the floor was opened for questions, Glasgow businessman Joe Goodman asked if the senator was worried about the re-election of Republican members of Congress if some form of health care legislation is not passed.

I think we have an obligation to the American people to try to improve what we currently have. What we do know is the status quo is not sustainable, McConnell said.

He continued that what Congress is discussing most in relation to the health care bill is the private health insurance market.

This is not people on Medicare; not people on Medicaid; not people who are getting their health insurance at work. This is the private health insurance market, McConnell said. It's never worked very well. It has worked worse after Obamacare, and so what I say to my colleagues is we are in the middle of this internal discussion about what to do about it, because our Democratic friends are not interested in participating, so this is a Republican-only exercise.

He continued that no action is not an alternative.

You've got the insurance markets imploding all over the country, including in this state. This is a very current topic, as you may have read. I'm in the position of the guy with the Rubik's Cube, trying to twist the dial in such a way to get at least 50 members of my Congress to agree to a version of repealing and replacing as much of it as we can agree to do, he said. That is a very timely subject that I'm grappling with as we speak and we all will be back in session next Monday and back at it again.

McConnell pointed out that many states only have one insurance provider, leaving residents with just one choice for health care coverage.

If you have just one choice, you really have no choice, he said.

Glasgow attorney Charley Goodman asked if there was a reasonable prospect of having to reach across the aisle in order to get a replacement bill passed.

If my side is unable to agree on an adequate replacement, then some kind of action with regard to the private health insurance market must occur, McConnell said, adding the health care bill has not been a very bipartisan issue.

If Republicans are not able to agree among themselves, he said the crisis will still be there.

We will have to see what the way forward is at that point, he said.

Other questions from the audience pertained to welfare and term limits for Congress, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court.

After the question and answer session, Goodman said he enjoyed McConnell's talk Thursday probably more than any other he has given to the Glasgow Rotary Club.

I don't think he answered my question exactly, but I appreciate the answer that he did give and we will see, he said. I really enjoyed his talk and I think all of us here in Glasgow can appreciate that he comes here. He comes here a lot and for that we are very grateful.

McConnell did speak briefly about the 21st Century Cures Act, which he said was one of three major bipartisan accomplishments of the last Congress and touched on regenerative medicine or stem cell replacement.

Dana Emmitt-Hall of Glasgow spoke to the senator about stem cell replacement.

I took my son, Cameron, to Lima, Peru, and had donated umbilical chord stem cell treatment done with him when he was younger, she said.

Her son is autistic and with the stem cell treatment, he showed what she described as being remarkable results.

We were able to get him potty trained within the first six months. He was able to pick up language and skills. He's learned to read, she said. He's made a lot of progress, but I attribute a lot of it to those stem cells.

Emmitt-Hall said she had no idea there was work being done at the federal level behind the scenes on regenerative medicine, adding that she finds that to be very encouraging.

When you have a dire situation and there's not really much hope, that's like a medical miracle, especially with individuals with spinal chord issues, she said. It's regenerative medicine. It is generating your body to heal itself.

Following his talk at the Glasgow Rotary Club meeting, McConnell went to the Barren County Cooperative Extension Office on West Main Street for another meeting. The Glasgow Daily Times was denied access to the meeting.

Kinslow writes for the Glasgow Daily Times.

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