Pawlenty Urges Minnesota Reps to Vote Down Health Care Bill

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty sent a letter Thursday to Minnesota's congressional delegation, urging them to vote against the federal health care reform proposal expected to come before them soon.

In his letter, Pawlenty called the current health care bill "bloated, expensive" and "government-centric." The governor said he agrees health care reform is needed in the U.S., but said more work is needed.

The House is set for a possible vote on the health care bill Sunday.

Pawlenty said he agrees with "common sense initiatives" like prohibiting coverage denials based on pre-existing conditions, malpractice reform, health savings account incentives, streamlined billing codes and the ability to purchase health insurance across state lines.

Download copy of Pawlenty's letter: PDF

"Unfortunately, the proposal now before the U.S. House does not focus on these types of commonsense reforms," Pawlenty wrote. "It is largely focused on expanding access and would do little to improve overall health care quality and hold down explosive cost growth."

Pawlenty added concern over a $20 billion medical device tax in the bill, which he says would hurt medical device businesses in Minnesota.

Congress' health care reform bill is estimated to cost $940 billion over the next decade without adding to the deficit, the independent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said Thursday.

The CBO projects savings of $130 billion in the first 10 years, and a further $1.2 trillion in the following decade. The report also said the bill would reduce annual growth in Medicare expenditures by 1.4 percentage points per year.