***NEWS RELEASE***

 

For Immediate Release

August 12, 2013

 

CONTACT:

Deborah Hamilton, Hamilton Strategies, 215.815.7716, 610.584.1096, DHamilton@HamiltonStrategies.com

                                                                 

CCHF’s ‘Refuse MNsure’ Billboard Campaign Launches at Minnesota State Fair

Leading Health Freedom Advocacy Group Launches Campaign to Challenge Americans to Refuse to Enroll in State Exchanges

 

ST. PAUL, Minn.—Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF, www.cchfreedom.org) is urging Minnesotans to reject the government’s push for enrollment into a flawed state health insurance exchange system through a billboard campaign that launched last week just outside the main entrance to the Minnesota State Fair.

Twila Brase, president and co-founder of CCHF, through the ongoing “Refuse to Enroll” campaign is encouraging people in Minnesota and across the country to reject enrollment in the MNsure Exchange and all other state Exchanges. Throughout the month of August, the campaign will work to expose the truth about government-run state exchanges and how they intrude on privacy, increase premiums, limit doctor choice, and do not provide private insurance. 

In 2012, more than 1.7 million people attended the fair, and on some single days, more than 225,000 flooded St. Paul for the event. This year, these folks will see a giant image of a distraught woman asking, “Why Can’t I Choose My OWN Doctor?” The billboard encourages drivers to visit www.RefuseMNsure.com for more information.

 

 

The link leads visitors to a page on the CCHF web site that includes the CCHF refuse2enroll flier and educates Americans on why government exchanges threaten individual choice, privacy, freedom and finances.

“According to two recent, reputable polls, we know that more than half of Americans oppose Obamacare,” Brase said. “Rejecting the state exchanges is an opportunity to stop Obamacare. The government health care plan can’t work without them. And if not enough Americans sign up for the exchanges, they will fail, and Obamacare will fail too. We can defend our freedom, our privacy and the quality of our health care by refusing to enroll in the state exchanges.”

Brase also points out that while CCHF is trying to get the word out about its important message, MNsure is trying to hide their true intentions. MNsure, Minnesota’s state health care exchange, has requested that their marketing efforts at the State Fair be kept secret until the official launch at the fair.

According to an article on TwinCities.com, a Republican lawmaker wants the state health insurance exchange to release its marketing materials as soon as possible. Earlier this month, Rep. Peggy Scott submitted a letter to the Minnesota Department of Administration to call on the department to reject a request by health exchange officials to temporarily classify the marketing materials as non-public, thereby delaying their release. “Granting MNsure’s request for temporary classification will set a dangerous precedent that could significantly undermine 40 years of transparency in Minnesota government,” Scott wrote.

Brase says there are also misconceptions about state exchanges that must be cleared up for all Americans. “Contrary to popular belief, non-enrollment in the exchanges does not result in penalties,” Brase continued. “Fines will be handed out only for the failure to be insured. We all have the freedom to choose private insurance outside of the intrusive government exchanges.”

CCHF is encouraging Americans to get the word out about the dangers of enrolling in state exchanges through several methods:

• Signs: Put up yard signs encouraging people to “Refuse to Enroll” in the state or federal Obamacare Exchange. Includerefuse2enroll.com.
• Social Media and Letters: Spread the word using Facebook and Twitter and by writing letters to the local newspaper.
• Town Hall Meetings: Hold community meetings to expose the truth about state exchanges.
• Distribute Information: Share CCHF’s “Refuse to Enroll” flyers at state and county fairs, meetings and other civic gatherings. Find one at www.RefuseMNsure.com.
• Ask Employers: Employers can choose not to put their employees’ health plan in the exchange. Ask employers to refuse the exchange.
• Donate: Give to the “Refuse to Enroll” campaign to fund billboards, video, radio and Google ads.

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Brase has written a list of the Top Ten Terribles of Obamacare, which include higher costs, privacy intrusions, more red tape, and poor care and coverage, and also lists the top four reasons not to enroll in state exchanges:

1. No Private Insurance: Obamacare is “Medicaid for the middle class.”
2. No Privacy: Patient data enters a new federal database that is accessible by the IRS.
3. Limited Choice: Health care coverage utilizes “narrow network” policies.
4. High Cost Premiums: Income redistribution is used to pay for exchange operations and subsidizes high-cost individuals.

CCHF has also issued “Private Health Insurance Exchanges: The Emerging Marketplace,” a report on the availability of private health insurance exchanges and access to this emerging and true marketplace for health insurance.

Twila Brase, a public health nurse and health freedom advocate, has been called one of the “100 Most Powerful People in Health Care” and one of “Minnesota’s 100 Most Influential Health Care Leaders.” She shares health care-related news and commentary with the American public in her daily, 60-second radio feature, Health Freedom Minute. The Minute airs on nearly 350 stations daily, including the entire American Family Radio Network, with more than 150 stations nationwide, in addition to Bott Radio Network with over 80 stations nationwide. During the daily features, listeners can learn more about the agenda behind proposed health care initiatives, the ramifications of proposed policies and actions that can be taken to protect their health care choices, rights and privacy. Health Freedom Minute is sponsored by the Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom, a patient-centered national health freedom organization based in St. Paul, Minn. CCHF supports patient and doctor freedom, medical innovation and the right of citizens to a confidential patient-doctor relationship.

For more information or to interview Twila Brase, president and co-founder of Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom, contact Deborah Hamilton, Hamilton Strategies, 215.815.7716, 610.584.1096, DHamilton@HamiltonStrategies.com.

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