KARE 11: Bachmann sends message with St. Cloud doctor

By Donovan Slack

One St. Cloud patient had her insurance canceled. Another is still waiting for a sleep apnea machine after months. A third, a 97-year-old woman, had to be driven 30 miles to get approval for a new walker.

These are the stories told by St. Cloud physician Julie Anderson, who was invited to the State of the Union address Tuesday by Rep. Michele Bachmann in an effort to shed light on what Bachmann calls the "awful" impacts of President Barack Obama's health care law.

Anderson, a family care doctor at St. Cloud Medical Group since 2004, said in an interview that bureaucratic red tape has increased since Obamacare passed in 2010 and is hurting her ability to do what she was trained to do: treat patients.

"It seems like, feels like, every month I've got some new requirement that I must implement into my practice that takes away time from me seeing patients," Anderson said, seated in Bachmann's Washington office before the speech.

Bachmann pointed to the 2,000-page law, noting that it's only a framework under which tens of thousands of pages of new regulations have been and are being issued. And, she said, Anderson and her patients represent real-world examples of the harm the law has done.

"It's not good for patients, it's not good for physicians, and this is a real problem," she said. "We need to fix this problem so that our health care system is better and so that it works for the people who pay for it and depend upon it."

Bachmann was just one of many Republican House members, including Speaker John Boehner, who sought to draw the national spotlight away from Obama's address and focus it on what they see as the failings of the law.

Boehner invited a hospital president from his Ohio district who is struggling with the management burdens of the Affordable Care Act, and small business owners whose costs to provide health insurance have shot up because of the law's mandates.

"These men and women have one important thing in common: the president's health care law is making it harder for them to hire," Boehner said. "They represent the countless number of employers across the country who are struggling right now, and having run a small business, I know where they are coming from. Their presence at the State of the Union is one way to help ensure their stories are told."

White House officials maintained that the president remains open to proposals that would strengthen the health care system and make it better for middle class families and small business owners.

"That is what the president's ultimate goal is," Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest said. "But unfortunately those are not the kinds of proposals that we've seen from House Republicans. In fact, all we've seen from house Republicans are proposals that would do exactly the opposite."

Anderson said that as a primary care doctor, she supports encouraging preventative care – a key goal of the law, which requires insurance companies to cover preventive services like mammograms free of charge.

"What I have trouble with is being able to offer those services in an efficient manner when I've got all of these other rules and boxes to check off at a visit that don't necessarily mean anything for my patient and their care," she said.

And the effects on patients can be seen in her office every day, she says. Patients are regularly calling and asking her to phone in prescriptions rather than their having to book an appointment for which they would have to pay out of pocket because of the higher deductibles in new insurance plans.

"You know, that's not really good practice of medicine," she said. "Sometimes I'll help them out just to help them out, but there's more and more of that."

The St. Cloud patient whose insurance plan was canceled came in last Friday and told Anderson she wouldn't be able to see her anymore because the new plan didn't cover visits to Anderson. The patient waiting for a sleep apnea machine is a 69-year-old woman on Medicare. The requirements to obtain medical equipment have been tightened under the health care law, Anderson said.

As for the 97-year-old trying to get a new walker, Anderson said the patient's daughter had to take a day off work to drive her in 30 minutes from Holdingford so that Anderson could comply with the new requirement of an office visit before prescribing the new device. In the past, Anderson could have approved the new walker without an appointment.

"What's required now of us is to have these face-to-face visits with patients where they have to come in, they have to look me in the eye, and I have to ask specific questions," Anderson said, adding the she has to record all aspects of the visit on a detailed form. "And then if you don't fill it out correctly, if you didn't answer one little question correctly . . . then I've got to go back and do it all over again.

"And then not only that, but we send it in, and then often, almost all the time, they'll send me back another 10-page document that I've got to go and fill out again, even though I just sent them a letter saying this lady needs a walker," she said. "Just give her the walker!"

It is a message Bachmann has been sounding for years, but the congresswoman says she is still hopeful that the president and Democrats in Congress will be amenable to changing the law and its regulations.

"I'm an optimist, and I think that what we're finding is it's unworkable," she said.

This was Bachmann's last time attending a State of the Union address as a congresswoman, and she said the occasion filled her with gratitude.

"It really is a sacred moment and a privilege, and so for me, I want to say thank you to the people of the 6th district who allowed me to be in that chamber all eight years," she said.

As for the race to succeed her, Bachmann said she is not ready to endorse a successor, except to say she is rooting for a Republican. Candidates currently seeking the GOP nod for the seat include former state Rep. Tom Emmer, former state Rep. Phil Krinkie, and Anoka County Commissioner Rhonda Sivarajah.

"I know them all," Bachmann said. "They're all very well qualified."

This article originally appeared on KARE 11's website. Original version can be found here.