…I was going to say “shark”, but it’s really just a 50-something ninny with ELCA Hair and a shark fin taped to their collar who identifies as a shark.
Minnesotans’ main concerns about healthcare – about which the MMA is putatively supposed to be concerned, itself – are affordability and access.
Naturally, they’ve made gun confiscation among their top priorities for the 2020 Legislature:
In the recent report outlining priorities for 2020, Gun Control is listed as number 2, above any policy that would drive down the cost of healthcare or increase access to patients.
The priorities outlined by MMA include:2. Prevent firearm injury and death
a. Expand criminal background checks to all firearm transfers and sales
b. Enact a “red flag” law to allow law enforcement to protect those who may be a danger to themselves or others
c. Authorize the use of firearm ownership data for public health research or epidemiologic investigation
Naturally, none of their proposals have anything to do with health.
It’s a further step down the path toward “progressivizing” all institutions.
There was a Red Flag standoff this weekend in NY.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/11/whiskeywarrior556_falls_victim_to_new_yorks_red_flag_laws_comments.html
The victim says someone told the cops he had PTSD, which he says he never had.
The victim was live streaming on Instagram, and it appeared to keep the cops honest. There were reports of people as far as Pennsylvania heading up there to support him.
Naturally, none of their proposals have anything to do with health.
That’s true that none of these with regards to point 2 do, but the other ones sort of do, more (item 4) or less (item 1) (follow the alphanews link and the the 2020 Proposals link there).
That said, they all seem quite authoritarian in approach and feel, so yes, further down the path towards the progressive utopia they want for us all.
As JDM correctly points out, the association’s website claims a considerably broader agenda:
11/14/2019
The MMA has set its priorities for the 2020 legislative session, which begins Feb. 11.
They include:
1. Reduce minors’ access to tobacco and e-cigarettes
a. Increase the age to purchase tobacco and vaping products to
b. Prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco and other flavored nicotine-containing products
2. Prevent firearm injury and death
a. Expand criminal background checks to all firearm transfers and sales
b. Enact a “red flag” law to allow law enforcement to protect those who may be a danger to themselves or others
c. Authorize the use of firearm ownership data for public health research or epidemiologic investigation
3. Increase immunization rates
a. Repeal existing personal belief exemption (PBE) from Minnesota’s childhood immunization laws
b. Fund education and outreach efforts in communities with lower immunization rates
4. Reduce third-party interference in patient care
a. Prohibit insurers from forcing a patient on successful medication therapy to change medications during an insurance benefit year
b. Extend current law that prohibits HMOs from denying a service simply for failure to ask for a prior authorization to all types of health insurance products
c. Require insurers to provide real-time prescription benefit information and notice of prior authorization requirements in compliance with nationally developed standards
The MMA’s annual Day at the Capitol will take place on March 4, 2020.
https://www.mnmed.org/news-and-publications/News/MMA-Sets-Its-Legislative-Priorities-for-2020-Sessi?utm_source=Informz%20Email&utm_medium=Informz&utm_campaign=Informz%20Emails&_zs=GBH4a&_zl=pkCq1&fbclid=IwAR166oFYK6M4YUvaXsIRacgC8Y2AkFyi3Lj7tnDAmJjwW7YV7BMRYD1DZr0
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End First Amendment religious freedom and Second Amendment firearms rights, overhaul health insurance, it’s an ambitious agenda, to be sure.
The Minnesota State Bar Association claims to represent lawyers statewide. MSBA endorsed same-sex marriage. No, not because all lawyers do, but because a small committee of zealots rammed through a resolution during a dull part of the state convention when nobody else was paying attention. I wonder if the medical profession operates the same way?
Huh. Standard American Diet and lack of exercise kills more people than firearms, alcohol, drugs, and tobacco combined, and it’s not on that list. Why not? Shouldn’t “repeal of corn subsidies” be #1, followed by “lack of walkable neighborhoods?
Oh, bike, where’s the fun in Making a Better World by simply recommending that people eat healthier foods and exercise more? I mean, real fun is imposing your will using men with guns for no reason other than to prevent people otherwise presumed to be adults from being able to make their own decisions as adults.
The “Red Flag” laws are a dream come true for the Left because they allow confiscation w/o due process. One a “Red Flag” law is in effect, they while widen its applicability, and make it difficult or impossible for a person under a “Red Flag” law to get their gun back or ever purchase another weapon. Missing child support payments will trigger the flag, as will seeing any mental health professional, not paying a traffic ticket, etc.
This is what is called “corruption,” using a thing for something other than its legitimate purpose. Progressivism is the greatest corrupting influence in modern American life, as everything from education to capitalism is bent so that it performs a progressive purpose. When the people who are supposed to pick up and dispose of your garbage effectively and at low cost instead see their mission as “saving the planet” or “creating social justice” they have become corrupt.
JDM: true. The more cynical side of me says that the AMA doesn’t come out against corn, sugar, and dairy subsidies because the payoffs for caring for the results of obesity–triple bypass surgery, stents, knee and hip replacement, etc..–are just too darned profitable.
And really, if we were to get in shape and stop smoking, you’ve got a situation where doctors would face the same issues dentists face today. Since the 1960s, tooth decay rates/fillings/root canal rates have been plunging due to fluoride in water and toothpaste, and hence a lot of dental schools–Northwestern’s, Loyola Chicago’s, etc..–have been closed.
Oh, maybe cancer would pick up the slack–well, except for lung and oral cancers, obviously–but there is a serious risk to the profession if we set the corn ships and Super big Gulp aside and get off our duffs.