Town hall

I got to Congressperson Baron Hill’s health care reform town hall meeting late, and ended up in the overflow outside area, that conservatives seemed to populate more heavily than outside. There were several hundred people inside, and several hundred outside. We had belatedly been told that signs weren’t allowed, but they would have been OK outside. Parking was tough, and I may have damaged my car a little bit (I was late in part because I had a flat tire replaced) parking on the grass (one of my colleagues was worried about parking too as she had a class at Indiana University Southeast, where the town hall was held, during that time.) The setting was apparently the ball room of the student union.

There was obviously opposition to health care reform, the carbon emissions cap and trade proposal, the bank bailout, and the fiscal stimulus program. Among the sources of opposition to health care reform were: older people who are afraid that Medicare – which they are generally happy with – will get raided or restricted to pay for health care for younger people; healthy working people with insurance who think anyone without good insurance – or who’s sick – is a free-loader whose illness is their own fault and they don’t want to subsidize; and – since Hill started out reading from a Louisville newspaper column that compared the high administrative costs (mainly with private insurance) in the United States unfavorably with lower administrative costs in other countries (including in – Japan – with the lowest costs) – those who felt that people who criticized the U.S. health care system were somehow unpatriotic: Why don’t you move to Japan, Baron?

For the most part, the crowd was somewhat civil, with Hill only breaking in a few times – including when people jeered at a Democrat making a favorable mention of Senator Kennedy. During and after there were some constructive suggestions – discussions about tort reform and medical savings accounts – which Hill said he’d look out. Hill said he’d voted for the bill in committee with a public option but wouldn’t commit to a public option fan that he would vote for it only with a public option. He said his main concern was to make sure people could keep their coverage even if they got sick, to make sure that uninsured people got in insurance pools, and to make the reform deficit neutral. Deficit-neutrality will have to mean cost savings and some tax increase – a concession that won him jeers. He painted himself – correctly – as someone who had moderated and improved – then voted for – both the health care reform and cap and trade proposals. And he explained how in order to help coal-using Southern Indiana utilities and rate payers he had – he didn’t use these words – essentially gutted the cap and trade proposal by lowering the costs to utilities for emitting carbon to almost nothing. He said he would continue to work to – improve/moderate/gut? Both proposals. He defended President Obama a little at one point and the stimulus proposal (said it had prevented a depression and just gotten several million dollars to Jeff Boat) – could have also mentioned the money it got to the New Albany-Floyd County school system), said he’d voted against bank bailout, and took no opportunity to defend House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whom several speakers tried to link him to.

Cincinnati area’s Duke Energy apparently backs Hill’s version of cap and trade, but at least one Southern Indiana rural electric cooperative had mailed letters to rate payers saying their bills would go up $50 a month due to cap and trade (which has only passed the House), which Hill didn’t seem to realize.

At times Hill told some good stories - about small business people who want to provide health insurance for their families but the rates keep going up - and his daughter, who only through a waiver at her new medical school (Michigan - some outside grumbled - why didn't she go to IU medical school - or I bet the waiver came because he's a Congressperson) was able to get health insurance - now that she's going off her parents - because she has a pre-exisitng condition-type health program. Some in the crowd taunted him - if this public option is so good why don't you try it first - Hill explained that he's on the health insurance of his wife (which is better than Congressperson's options0 - who's a school teacher - but because she's retiring costs will go up and if a public option becomes available he will take a look at it for himself.

Afterwards, I saw a number of the people I’ve worked with this summer: Dustin, Bethany, several people from Congressperson Hill’s office, Nancy whose e-mails we get (but no Abby or Bruce – and I don’t know if anyone I called about the event was there – I called about 100 numbers over the weekend, got plenty of disconnected and wrong numbers and left plenty of messages, and talked with about half a dozen people who said they might go and one who said he and his wife would definitely go.). I also saw former WLKY AM reporter Bill Alexander, who I also saw on TV reporting on the 10 p.m. news for the Fox affiliate.

Before leaving work to pick up my car and go late to the town hall I had – after chopping it so it fits –

How did the Democrats - in six to eight months - let the House Republican leadership, health insurance companies, coal companies, talk radio, Fox News, libertarians, and the radical right persuade most voters that the health care system and the environment are in good shape, that balacing the federal budget is the way to prevent a recession, and that if stimulus is needed tax cuts are always preferable to gov’t spending? onment are in good shape, balancing the federal budget is good way to prevent a depression, and if any stimulus is needed tax cuts are always preferable to govt spending?onment are in good shape, balancing the federal budget is good way to prevent a depression, and if any stimulus is needed tax cuts are always preferable to govt spending?

Half a dozen comments so far . . .

-- Perry