Paula Sutton said the following in a debate with Dave Miramant: “I can go to the movies, buy fancy new clothes and a 12-pack or I can save for a yearly physical. I know what I would do, yet others choose differently; and asking anyone to subsidize their choices is not right. The message it sends is that the government will take care of you. Healthcare starts at home, not in Augusta."

Ms. Sutton apparently has a very low opinion of you, the voter. 

- You think that sharp clothes, booze and good times are more important than your health.

- You share her fantasy that annual physical exams alone constitute “healthcare”, even though it’s only after the exam that the expensive part of healthcare kicks in.

- You have enough money to afford the high premiums charged by private insurers for even their lowest quality health insurance policies (i.e., high deductibles, co-pays, co-insurance, and coverage exclusions).   

- You are willing to excuse Ms. Sutton for twice voting against the expansion of Medicaid in Maine.

- You don’t think government’s first priority should be to help its citizens protect themselves against threats to their well-being.  

- You believe that the world’s richest country can’t or shouldn’t do what almost every other economically developed country in the world does: help all of its citizens obtain affordable, quality healthcare.

Please don’t reward such cynicism.  Vote for Bill Pluecker, independent candidate in Maine House District 95.

Bruce Haffner lives in Hope