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Melissa Miller
Melissa Miller is business editor at The Southeast Missourian. A graduate of the University of Missouri Journalism School, she's worked as a reporter, photographer, editor and as the executive director of two not-for-profit organizations. After living in Michigan and then Indiana, she moved back to her hometown of Jackson, Mo. In addition to writing daily stories for The Southeast Missourian, Melissa coordinates editorial content each month for Business Today. Business Today is a monthly publication for southeast Missouri's business community. Monthly themes include health care, agriculture, women in business, technology and more. Business Today is direct mailed to business owner and managers throughout southeast Missouri and southern Illinois. Follow her updates on local business developments at www.twitter.com/semissourianbiz or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MelissaMillerSoutheastMissourian

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Emerson co-sponsors repeal of Healthcare Reform

Posted Friday, January 7, 2011, at 10:38 AM

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, in the first major legislative effort of the 112th Congress, yesterday co-sponsored a measure to entirely repeal the federal health care legislation.

The Senate is expected to ignore the bill Emerson supports and other republicans support.

"We need a fresh start, and that means repealing the health care law instead of attempting to untangle it while the administration continues to make new health care regulations that will force Americans out of their existing coverage, increase federal spending, cut Medicare and add bureaucratic inefficiencies to the American health care system," Emerson said. "Of course there are parts of the bill which weren't controversial, like covering pre-existing conditions, and those provisions ought to be reshaped in a new effort to lower costs and expand private coverage -- two aims which were not objectives of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid bill."

The health care repeal bill will be voted upon in the U.S. House of Representatives next week.

But despite this effort, local healthcare experts agree that healthcare reform isn't going to go away.

It may be tweaked, or changed. The mandate that people must purchase insurance coverage may go away, but healthcare reform is here to stay.

This week I talked with both Steven Bjelich, CEO at Saint Francis Medical Center and Debbie Linnes, CEO of SoutheastHEALTH about how healthcare reform is changing how they operate--about what they like about the healthcare reform law and what they don't.

Look for that story next week and a series of stories throughout the coming year as healthcare agencies grapple with the 800 pound gorilla known as healthcare reform.

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  • More from our "all for show" legislator. Politics before people.

    -- Posted by Remington on Fri, Jan 7, 2011, at 11:21 AM

  • Amen Remington!

    -- Posted by semogirl on Fri, Jan 7, 2011, at 12:05 PM

  • 800 pound Guerilla? Do you have a dictionary? If you don't really know the term don't use it. And why the upper case "G".

    Might I suggest the concept of editor and proofreader. Many newspapers have used it succesfully, especially when the staff is not highly experienced.

    -- Posted by ParkerDaws on Fri, Jan 7, 2011, at 7:09 PM
    Melissa Miller
    Thanks for noticing the error. It was re result of a spell check auto-correct function. It has been fixed. Just so you know, I am actually not an inexperienced reporter. I graduated from journalism school more than ten years ago an have seven years in newspapers as well as four years in public relations.

  • Then, with all that experience as a reporter and education in journalism you would know:

    -the difference between gorilla and guerilla.

    -the problems with spell check, especially auto-correct function and how it should not be used in journalism.

    -the value of proofreading and proofreading again.

    I am sorry I touched a nerve, but despite all your education and experience your writing could benefit from some mentoring by an editor. IMHO

    -- Posted by ParkerDaws on Fri, Jan 7, 2011, at 8:43 PM

  • The answer is not in "writing a more perfect regulation", or in a federal law.

    Where in the U.S. Constitution does it stipulate that the central government may insist that private insurance companies cannot write policies excluding certain pre-existing conditions? The cost of covering care of those with such conditions will be subsidized by those without. Inexpensive coverage for the younger and healthier will be unavailable. These individuals would like to be in a "low risk" pool, where insurance is statistically unlikely to have to cover expensive care on a frequent basis. Alternatively, the insurance company will have to provide a product solely to a "high risk" pool which will yield no profit. Is this free enterprise? "No profit" is the exclusive domain of the federal government...think Amtrak, USPS, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, etc.

    Here's a radical idea: let every American have an HSA, and a high deductible catastrophic plan for the huge ticket items (car crash, tornado). That would give the people their control back--because after all, "FREE people can CHOOSE." But that would devolve power downward, which is anathema to anyone in the federal government.

    -- Posted by Givemeliberty on Sat, Jan 8, 2011, at 11:19 AM

  • Sounds like ParkerDaws is volunteering her "skills" to go in to the paper and proofread all of the content being published on the paper's website. I'm sure that is only one or two stories a day. ;)

    -- Posted by SEMissouri70 on Sat, Jan 8, 2011, at 11:39 AM

  • Nope, not volunteering. Should not have to do what the newspaper should be doing as part of their mission. The entire media has just gotten sloppy. But, if you were willing to pay me I would make sure it got done and done right.

    -- Posted by ParkerDaws on Sat, Jan 8, 2011, at 5:54 PM

  • How many years has Joann been in Congress and had the opportunity to address the health care problem? Now she intends to spend her time trying to undo what others have worked hard to acheive.

    -- Posted by ithenana on Sun, Jan 9, 2011, at 7:37 AM

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