Walsh to Bean on Health Care Vote: Vote Your District Not Your Party

Press Release

8th District Republican congressional nominee Joe Walsh today called on his liberal Democrat opponent Rep. Melissa Bean to swallow her pride and vote "No" on the Obamacare federal takeover of health care legislation nearing a vote in the House.

"For the first time in a long time Melissa Bean needs to listen to her constituents and vote her district," said Walsh. "A government takeover of health care is absolutely the wrong approach to fix what ails with health care in America- and 8th district voters know it. Melissa Bean was not elected to represent public sector unions and march in lockstep with her party. She was elected to represent the interests of 8th district families and support policies that speak to their very real economic insecurities. This legislation will worsen the quality of care we have access to and increase unemployment," Walsh said.

The proposed takeover of health care that would cost Illinois 169,000 jobs, $4,418 per person, and shrink Illinois' economy by 5.1 percent, according to a study by the Illinois Policy Institute . This is against the backdrop of a state with 11% unemployment.

"A vote for this health care bill is vote against the economic interests of 8th district families, plain and simple," Walsh added.

The legislation would also drastically reduce senior citizens' access to the popular (and private) Medicaid Advantage program.

"I'm not in the camp that says the president is overly ambitious to take on health care," said Bean, who voted for the federal takeover of health care late last year that passed the House by a slim 220-215 margin despite a sizable Democrat majority.

Prior to her vote last year, Bean, unlike most members of Congress (Republicans and Democrats), declined to hold any town hall meetings or public forums where residents could weigh in and ask questions about this legislation.

"Melissa Bean has made it very clear that if she is not interested in the opinions of concerns of those she was elected to represent," said Walsh.

In his keynote address to the McHenry Medical Society at their annual meeting, Walsh said there is no way the country can afford the trillion dollar takeover of one-sixth of our nation's economy.

"There are other ways to reform health care without sending our children and grandchildren into even greater debt and forever altering the doctor-patient relationship," Walsh said.

Walsh said incremental reforms such as allow the sale of insurance plans across state lines increase competition among insurers and passing meaningful tort reform are key to reducing costs while protecting quality of care.

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