Sen. Barrasso focuses on health issues in NWC stop

Posted 4/2/15

“Dr. Barrasso!” Hooper said as she approached the senator at the Powell Health and Safety Fair Saturday morning in the Cabre Gym at Northwest College. “I don’t call you senator — you’re always Dr. Barrasso to me!”

Barrasso smiled …

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Sen. Barrasso focuses on health issues in NWC stop

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Senator, who is also a doctor, says states should decide what to offer their residents

Katherine Hooper smiled in delight as she spotted Sen. John Barrasso. But she didn’t refer to him by that title.

“Dr. Barrasso!” Hooper said as she approached the senator at the Powell Health and Safety Fair Saturday morning in the Cabre Gym at Northwest College. “I don’t call you senator — you’re always Dr. Barrasso to me!”

Barrasso smiled and said he accepted that title. Worse words have been used to describe him, he said.

Hooper, 79, said Barrasso treated her for “shattered pieces in my knee” several years ago. The Powell resident said he did an excellent job.

“I’m using it and it’s good,” Hooper said.

The Senate had been in session until after 3 a.m. Friday morning, but Barrasso returned to Wyoming that day and appeared bright-eyed and eager to talk with people and pose for photos at NWC. He said he has attended 20 or more of the health fairs, going back to when he was called “Wyoming’s Doctor” because of his frequent media appearances to offer health tips.

“I always like medicine, taking care of people,” Barrasso said, but he said he doubts he will ever return to practice. That doesn’t mean health-related issues aren’t on his mind.

He once again stated his opposition to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Barrasso said he feels each state should determine what its people want and need.

“It’s a national issue and concern, it’s a national concern,” he said. “(But) I think states are in a better position to know what works in their state. And the mandates are horrible.”

When Washington comes up with a one-size-fits-all solution, it usually doesn’t work for Wyoming, he said.

Barrasso noted that Obamacare may receive a fatal wound from the Supreme Court this year when it issues an opinion on the King v. Burwell case. That challenges the right of the federal government to operate health insurance marketplaces in states that did not set up their own.

While residents of the 13 states that did so, as well as those in the District of Columbia, would see no change, people in the other 37 states, including Wyoming, could feel a great impact if federal subsidies disappear.

“We want to provide an off-ramp away from national Obamacare to give the states and people more freedom and more flexibility,” Barrasso said. “And more choice to choose what works for them. The problem is the law.

“People in Wyoming don’t want to be told what to do,” he said. “The president demands you buy insurance to cover things you don’t need and don’t want. It drives up the cost of insurance.”

He said nationally, Medicaid is “broken” and in need of serious repair.

“The president wants more and more on Medicaid, the system that is already broken,” Barrasso said. “He’s not actually providing the kind of care that more people need. President Obama always talks about coverage.

“Well, in Wyoming, and across the country, there’s a big difference between coverage and care,” he said. “The president doesn’t seem to want to hear that.”

Barrasso said it’s one thing to print cards and promise care. Ensuring there are doctors and nurses to provide it is quite something else.

“It’s like giving you a bus ticket if there is no bus coming,” he said.

Barrasso said he spoke with a rancher who said her coverage had been canceled because it wasn’t deemed to be sufficient. Up to 3,500 people in Wyoming lost their coverage, he said.

“Well, it was good enough for her and what she wanted and liked,” Barrasso said. “She said, ‘Dr. Barrasso, please explain to the president,  I’m 62, I’ve had a hysterectomy. I don’t need maternity coverage. I’m not going to have more babies.’

“So that’s why she lost her insurance,” he said.

Barrasso posed for photos inside a large, inflatable colon that was at the fair to promote colon cancer awareness.

He said under Obamacare, people who think they are getting a free colonoscopy sometimes end up with large bills. A test will spot a polyp and it will be removed. The patient wakes up with a multi-thousand dollar bill, he said.

Defense issues a concern

Barrasso took a pass when asked if he favored Medicaid expansion in Wyoming. The Legislature took a long look at it after Gov. Matt Mead asked for it before the 2015 legislative session, but in the end, the proposal was defeated in Cheyenne.

“The Legislature doesn’t want to hear from me,” Barrasso said. “They look at these issues, evaluate it and make their own decisions.”

The lean, still dark-haired senator said as chairman of Republican Policy Committee, which includes all 54 GOP members of the Senate, he has a strong voice in creating the party’s vision.

“You listen to people, listen to what they have to say,” he said. “But I wrote the papers, working with my staff. As the chairman, you have an important say.”

Barrasso said several matters keep him awake at night, including the threat of nuclear weapons in the hands of dangerous governments and groups around the world, cyberthreats against the USA and potential attacks on our energy and banking systems.

In general, the defense of the country is something that gives him cause for concern, he said. Barrasso is a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations.

Barrasso welcomed the news that Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the former Senate majority leader who now serves as the minority leader, will not run for a sixth term in 2016.

“I think Harry Reid has been an obstructionist,” he said. “He has done more to divide the country than unite the country. I’m glad to see him go. I wish him well.”

Barrasso praised Sen. Mike Enzi, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, for getting a balanced budget bill passed by the entire Senate on Friday.

“Finally got an accountant in there and got a balanced budget,” he said of his fellow Wyoming Republican. Barrasso noted the House had also passed a balanced budget.

“The president has his own budget, which raises taxes and doesn’t balance,” he said. “We’re going to use ours.”

The Senate version includes Barrasso’s amendment that limits the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from adopting an expanded and broad regulatory definition of “Waters of the United States.” The amendment passed the Senate on March 25 by a vote of 59-40.

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