U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn said Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders' attack on Mayo Clinic is not only an assault on the health care system but on patient-centered medicine, free enterprise and southern Minnesota's economy.
"The attack lodged by Bernie Sanders on The Mayo Clinic highlights the grave threat posed to patient-centered medicine by a Democrat Party bent on imposing socialized medicine on the American people," said Hagedorn, whose district represents Mayo Clinic.
Hagedorn's response comes a day after the PB reported on a tweet sent out by the Vermont senator on Friday in which he criticized Mayo for closing clinics in Midwestern rural areas.
"Mayo Clinic executives have decided to strip away access to health care from tens of thousands of rural Midwesterners – putting profits over people," Sanders' tweet said. "Under Medicare for All, we will end the corporate greed in health care that is leaving rural Americans behind."
Hagedorn said he agrees with Sanders that more should be done to support rural Americans and the health care institutions serving rural areas. But he said he "strongly disagrees" with "pie-in-the-sky notions" offered by Sanders and the Democratic Party to "micro-manage the business decisions of U.S. medical providers."
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"Instead, we must address the cost burdens of excessive federal regulations and the substandard-reimbursement for Medicare and Medicaid services - both of which disproportionately and negatively impact rural medical institutions and residents," Hagedorn said in his statement.
Bernie gives Mayo Clinic the burn, chastises it for 'corporate greed'
