| Congressman Parker Griffith (Big Time DINO) hosted a "town hall" meeting to "get citizen input" regarding Health Care issues. I want readers to compare and contrast the analysis of the meeting from two sources who were in attendance. I want readers who weren't there to tell me which one gave them the most information. I want readers who were there to compare and contrast the two reports. The first report from a "Blogger" will be on this page. The report from The Huntsville Times is below the fold. I report, you decide. For those who weren't able to attend, I wanted to let you know how the town hall went with Rep. Parker Griffith tonight ... There were about 250 people in attendance; it lasted almost 2 hours. Griffith gave a short talk about why healthcare reform is so important (businesses can't compete, CEOs say we must change it, we want everyone to have access to quality care, reduce costs and give people choice.) He also talked about problems with the shortage of primary care doctors and nurses and how we're trying to reform a system in the middle of a recession. Griffith then opened it up to comments/questions from the audience. Throughout the evening, about half who made comments or asked questions were in favor of single payer/public option. (It was good to our single payer views were so well represented in the Q&A!) The other half talked about the need for free markets and their fears of socialized medicine. Here are some specific items I took notes on: + When asked about a public option, Griffith said he would be in favor of it if it was at a level playing field with private insurance companies. However, if it was like Medicare, then he thinks it would destroy the healthcare quality that we have today. (I wasn't clear on why he thought that...) + Someone said how much cheaper the same drugs are in foreign countries than they in the U.S. + In response to a question about medical tort reform, Griffith talked about how doctors are doing extra procedures to keep from being sued. + Griffith will be introducing two bills shortly. One is that Congress members must be subject to the same healthcare plan that they devise. The other is that a healthcare bill must be on Congress members' desks one week prior to a vote -- so there is time to study it. + Someone talked about how her sister has followed all the rules (working, paying taxes, etc.) but she can't get insurance due to a pre-existing condition. If something happed to her now, she would be in big financial trouble. + Griffith said we don't want government people in Washington DC deciding what kind of medical treatment we would get or not get. Someone responded saying that it's now insurance co. bureaucrats who are doing that now. + Someone said that the 47 million uninsured includes illegal immigrants. Griffith corrected them saying it does not. He also said he is against illegal immigrants being allowed healthcare in the U.S. + Someone talked about starting a small business but not being able to afford healthcare for their employees. They said this stifles capitalism since small businesses are the important to our economy. + In response to a question about the shortage of doctors and nurses, Griffith said we need to give doctors incentives to get them to practice in areas where there are shortages. Education about diet and exercise should not be done by doctors but by other healthcare providers. + Someone talked about how her insurance company has denied treatment/medicine that her doctor wanted her to take. + Griffith said he thinks single payer is dangerous to the healthcare people want, and to innovation. (He moved onto another topic quickly, so this didn't get challenged... but it's good for us to know what he's thinking.) + Griffith did say that he sees healthcare as a right, not a privilege. + He talked about how healthcare is the largest industry in the U.S., and that the issues with changing it are very complicated. + Someone brought up that 60% of bankruptcies are caused by medical bills. Griffith said that 70% of bankruptcies have some medical costs in them. + One person stood up and talked about how the Canadian and German healthcare systems are good. They had lived there. Another person who had lived in Canada said that routine care was good, but they knew someone who died waiting for a heart operation (they didn't say how old this person was or any complications). + A man said he is a Christian and based on that, he thinks all people should have access to good healthcare. He owns a small business and is very concerned that he saw his premiums jump from $300 to over $500 in the last two years. While most people were civil, I was disappointed to see that a few people on both sides of the issue (single payer/public option folks AND free market folks), were unkind in their questions and responses to Griffith's remarks. All in all, it was an interesting evening and I was so glad to see many of our single payer people in the audience!! In addition, there were a number of others in the audience -- not yet part of our group -- who voiced their opinion in favor of single payer. *I would add the majority of the right wingnuts who are opposed to so called "socialized medicine" are the same ones that marched to W-ar with Dubya and voted for bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran McSame. These are the same people who gave Dubya and Dick a blanck check to spend for welfare in Iraq. If Bush wanted "socialized medicine" they would be all for it. They are like petulant children (h/t mooncat) who need to grow up. Huntsville Times report below the fold. |