Representative Tim Walz (D – MN – 1^st District) initially wasn’t going to brave the sometimes turbulent waters of a town hall meeting on congressional plans for health care reform. Pressure from his local editorial pages and constituents led him to reconsider and on Thursday, he hosted a town hall meeting at the Mankato East High School Auditorium.

 

The capacity of the auditorium was just 743 and over 1,000 people showed up to voice their opinions and ask questions of their congressman. Consequently, the fire marshal was forced to turn away around 300 people. Naturally all were disappointed and some were angry. Minnesota Majority received reports that union “thugs” were barring entrance but those reports seem to have stemmed from a misunderstanding about the auditorium’s legal capacity.

 

Although supporters of the bill organized the labor unions and bussed over 100 union workers in to the meeting, the crowd was decidedly opposed to proposals now being debated in congress to change America’s health care system. Most attendees were local constituents who arrived alone, of their own initiative.

 

The Teamsters union had a tractor trailer rig lit up in the parking lot and their members formed a line outside the building bearing signs in support of Obama’s health care plans. At least one attendee carrying a sign opposed to the plans was surrounded and berated by the union members on his way into the auditorium.

 

Union organizers had a table set up in the entrance distributing pro-Obamacare literature, lapel stickers and T-Shirts.

 

Bussed-in SEIU workers, the Teamsters and a union nurses in red t-shirts were early arrivers and were mostly distributed among the front rows of the auditorium during the meeting.

 

For his part, Walz, a supporter of health care reform tried to find the middle road, saying the specifics of the health care bill aren’t finalized yet and he’ll decide on the bill once he sees the final product. He claimed the proposal as it now stands is “revenue neutral” and said he wouldn’t vote for any plan that would increase the federal deficit. Of course, according to the Congressional Budget Offices’ own figures, the current House bill, HR 3200 does increase the federal deficit, significantly.

 

Mayo clinic physician Dr. Phil Araoz said Medicare currently has problems with reimbursement, explaining that high-cost states like California and New York are unfairly rewarded with higher reimbursement rates than other states including Minnesota. Without Medicare reform, Dr. Araoz advised against supporting the health care bill, asking “If doing something makes it worse, isn’t it better to do nothing?”

 

There were cheers and jeers from both sides of the debate, but the meeting was civil and most importantly, Representative Walz heard from his constituents.