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Prop C supporters predict victory, blast hospital group for its opposition

State Sen. Jane Cunningham credited a higher power Wednesday with helping to build the apparent strong public support for Proposition C, the ballot proposal to seeks to exempt Missouri from the health care mandates contained in the new health care law.

"I do believe that God interferes in the affairs of men," said Cunningham, R-Chesterfield, during a fundraising rally Wednesday night in St. Charles aimed at promoting the measure's passage in next Tuesday's statewide election.

Cunningham and other legislative leaders -- including state Sen. Jim Lembke, R-Lemay, and state Reps. Tim Jones, R-Eureka, and Brian Nieves, R-Washington -- told the crowd of several hundred that money was pouring in for a final campaign blitz in favor of the measure.

The quartet repeated their longstanding assertion that the federal health care mandates violate state's rights, limit personal freedom, and are too costly.

Jones was particularly critical of new opposition efforts by the Missouri Hospital Association, which has posted a "fact sheet" on its web site that warns that if Proposition C is passed and upheld by the courts, "Missouri hospitals would be significantly disadvantaged."

The association also has sent out a mailer critical of Proposition C.

The legislator accused the association's members of caring only "about what they are going to lose from the bottom line."

Jones said that he has heard from physicians who support Proposition C. "I'll take the word of my doctor any day over an administrator in a suit," he said, touching off cheers.

But the crowd appeared most moved by Cunningham's dermatologist, Dr. George Hruza, who recounted once again how, as a child in what was formerly Czechoslovakia, his tonsils were removed without anesthesia because, Hruza said, the government overseers of that nation's system had sought to save money.

Another speaker, Brenda Webb of St. Charles, gave a more recent account of what she said had been an attempt by doctor -- "who apparently believed in Obamacare" -- to discourage treatment for her ailing 88-year-old mother.

Weber asserted that a strong Missouri vote in favor of Proposition C could be "the domino" that prompts other states to take similar action against the federal health care changes.

State Rep. Allen Icet, R-Wildwood and a candidate for state auditor, showed up at the rally to underscore his support.

And Thursday morning, U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Springfield and a candidate for the U.S. Senate, formally announced his support for Proposition C as well. A Blunt spokesman said the campaign had a representative at Wednesday's rally.

Blunt's campaign announced that he has "launched a new petition at RoyBlunt.com for Missourians to show their support for Proposition C, the Health Care Freedom Act." 

Blunt, who long has been opposed to the federal health care changes, said that he was supporting Proposition C because it is "consistent with his vote against the government takeover of health care in the U.S. House...."

This article originally appeared in the St. Louis Beacon.

Jo Mannies is a freelance journalist and former political reporter at St. Louis Public Radio.