http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=123954A community hospital in Batesville, Miss., has gone to the unusual lengths of posting a building-size banner on the side of its structure to thank Massachusetts voters for their choice in the recent election to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy.
The message is simple: "Thank You Massachusetts!"
It stems from the gratitude local health care providers feel for the votes that sent Republican Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate instead of a Democrat hand-picked by Kennedy supporters who would have continued to support President Obama's nationalization plan for health care.
The health takeover plan was a campaign issue in the race, and Brown specifically said he wanted to be the vote that would kill the plan, dubbed "Obamacare" by critics.
Tri-Lakes Medical Center
Dr. Mike Haven is the CEO of the Tri-Lakes Medical Center, which was taken over financially by a team of local doctors just last year after a previous management company let it slide into bankruptcy.
"I bought the banner and displayed it after the Massachusetts election," Haven told WND. "Mainly because it personally just gave me a … restored confidence in America."
He said those who have seen the banner mostly have been supportive. A few have taken it as criticism of the Democrats in power in Congress who are pushing for the plan.
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"If the Republicans were doing what the Democrats have been, I'd be opposed to them," he said. "I'm pro-American. I vote based on what's right and best for the country."
He said he has some questions about the plan, which now faces a very uncertain future following Brown's victory. In fact, one main option to adopting the proposal as Democrats have crafted it now is dead since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed she did not have the House support to move forward on the Senate-approved package.
Among Haven's questions:
* If the health care package is such a bad deal for Nebraska residents, as suggested by Sen. Ben Nelson's demand for an exemption for them from certain costs, why would anyone think it would be a good idea for other states?
* Why are unions, insurance companies, the American Medical Association and lobbyists invited to discuss the plan, but the physicians who best know the present system – and its faults – are excluded?
* And what about the condemnation that big insurance companies are making billions of dollars? If that's a fact, why doesn't the government copy those procedures and it soon could be sending money back to taxpayers?
"I'll guarantee most physicians think that the AMA does not represent their personal position," he said. "A lot of us have gotten out. Those of us out here in the real world, we work within this system. Yes, it needs change. I don't understand why we're not sitting down with these bright minds and educated people and trying to fix the problems."
The reaction to the sign so far has been "kind of interesting."
"A lot of it has been positive," he said. "They love the sign."
He said it's just an expression of affirmation for the voting system in the United States and the fact Massachusetts voters were determined to turn back what appeared to be a juggernaut on health care.
Haven noted the explanation Democrats gave following their stunning loss, "We understand we failed. We're not getting the message across."
"That's the problem," said Haven. "We don't need them to give us the message. We need them to hear the message."
Unless members of Congress clean up their act, he said, he would suggest that voters "run them all off the hill."
"They won't have lost anything," he said.
Getting back to basics is what's needed, he said.
"People have choices, and some of those choices have bad consequences. I differ from Obama. He says everybody has the right to health care."
He noted that everybody has the right to try to make a success of their lives and purchase health care if they choose.
There's a difference for those actually in dire need and financial straits, but he said, "The Constitution affords you the opportunity by the sweat of your brow and the strength of your hands to have an equal education and opportunity.
"But the work still has to be done by the individual."
Among the accusations critics have leveled against Obama's plan are that Americans would be fined for not paying for the government's choice of health care coverages, it would ration health care through "death panels," it was written strategically to require 67 votes in the U.S. Senate later to even consider changes and physicians and hospitals would take huge pay cuts.
Topic: Hospital: 'Thank you Massachusetts!' (Read 1103 times)