Dan Feehan: For families in southern Minnesota, healthcare isn’t a political issue — it’s a life and death issue
Last week, I listened to parents from across southern Minnesota who are living with children with high-cost medical needs. For these families, and so many more, healthcare isn’t political — it’s life and death. Like parents across our district, each of the families I spoke to awake each morning ready to do everything they can for their children, but the chaos and dysfunction of Washington has made it increasingly difficult. While these families huddle around their kitchen tables, worrying about how they’ll afford the next bill or the next prescription, politicians like Congressman Hagedorn cozy up to insurance and pharmaceutical lobbyists, worried only about their next campaign contribution. This status quo is not working for southern Minnesotans.
During our conversation, I heard from a father in Rochester who is caring for a son with severe special needs. His son requires in-home care and regular appointments, which at one point led to a $1.4 million medical bill. I spoke with a mother in Byron whose child requires lifesaving, but incredibly expensive, prescription drugs. The parents I heard from, like so many others in southern Minnesota, are fighting for their childrens’ well-being every day — but they’ve been left behind by a Washington that’s controlled by drug, insurance, and for-profit healthcare companies.
Over the course of running for office, Jim Hagedorn has accepted over $200,000 in corporate PAC donations, including tens of thousands from powerful for-profit healthcare companies. He’s returned the favor by voting against lowering the cost of prescription drugs and supporting the repeal of coverage for those with pre-existing conditions. These decisions are not just wrongheaded, but would devastate families all across southern Minnesota. Make no mistake: going backwards would mean ruin for many southern Minnesotans already living through the chaos of our healthcare system.
In Congress, I’ll work every day to ensure that no parent is ever forced to choose between their child’s life and avoiding financial ruin. I’ll take on out-of-state pharmaceutical conglomerates and mega-insurance companies that hold outsized influence in Washington — influence that they use to keep their prescription drug prices and health care costs high in order to enjoy record profits. And I’ll never stop fighting to put people first.
The drug and insurance companies already have enough representation in Washington with politicians like Jim Hagedorn who happily accept their talking points — and their campaign contributions. The stories I heard last week, and the stories I hear far too often on the campaign trail, are the voices that deserve to be heard in Washington, and the voices that I will carry with me to Congress.
Dan Feehan is the Democratic candidate for Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District.
