Rep. McCollum Health Care Town Hall at Macalester

On Monday, Rep. Betty McCollum conducted a public forum on Democrat-led health care reform proposals. The meeting was open to 400 attendees, with priority given to McCollum’s 4^th district constituents (IDs were checked - I wonder where McCollum stands on voter ID). About 1,000 people showed up, but an audio feed was set up so people who couldn’t get in were able to listen from outside. 

Although President Obama’s organization, Organizing for America was present in force, distributing hundreds of preprinted “Standing Together for Health Insurance Reform” signs that simply read, “Thank You” on the reverse, the majority of McCollum’s local constituents who addressed the meeting with questions or comments were skeptical of the proposed reforms.

 

Attendees shared their health care stories and offered ideas for reform based on their experiences. Suggestions included decoupling health insurance from employment to alleviate fear of losing coverage when out of work or changing jobs, creating price transparency so health care consumers could quickly find out how much a procedure will cost, allowing health insurance purchases to cross state lines and reducing government coverage mandates to give consumers more options and price points.

 

Rep. McCollum asserted that there isn’t currently a health care bill. Despite that claim, her constituents quoted passages from HR3200, citing section and page numbers when questioning or commenting on provisions in the bill. McCollum went on to explain that there’s been no rush to pass health care legislation and that only after members of Congress went home for the August recess and heard from their constituents would they begin crafting a health care reform bill. The crowd erupted in expressions of disbelief at that notion. There were few other outbursts. The overall tone of the meeting was very civil.

McCollum explained that in her view, health care is a right and she’d even offered an amendment to the Constitution to enshrine that belief last year. One health care professional thanked her for that belief, but other attendees spoke instead of personal responsibility and getting government out of the way of their health care options.

McCollum presented a stack of what she said were 4,000 petition signatures in favor of the president’s health care proposals. They were submitted via the president’s activist group, Organizing for America (my.barackobama.com), but she made no mention of how many letters and emails she may have received from opponents of the plan.