Health-care town halls: ‘Representative?’
by Mark Silva:
Full of sound and fury, but signifying nothing?
If that’s the case, what do the “civil” ones mean?
Those boisterous town halls on health-care reform that members of Congress have confronted this summer may not say anything at all about American sentiment on the issue.
Or they could be highly indicative of public unrest.
That’s the way two senators, Democrat Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah, broke on the subject today.
“I think we have to bear in mind, that although those people need to be heard and have a right to be heard, that they are not really representative of America in my opinion,” Specter said of the town halls today in an appearance on ABC News’ This Week. “e have to be careful here not to let those town meetings make the scene that influences what we do on health policy.”
“I disagree with Arlen that they’re not representative of the American people,” Hatch said of the town halls in his turn on This Week. ” I think they are. I’ve found people just up in arms everywhere I’ve gone on health care.”
Specter, who left the Republican Party late in his career, has confronted some unrest at his own town halls this summer.
“I think people are very nervous because so many have lost their jobs, and I think that the uncertainty of the health care bill — remember, we don’t have one in the Senate yet, and none has come to the House floor,” Specter said. “And we also can’t allow these kinds of town hall meetings to dominate the political process. That would be destructive of what we need to do to figure out, what is the best approach?”
President Barack Obama, for his part, figures that he has proven that “civil” town halls are possible. He had a few this week. Critics of those forums say the president is not getting a representative crowd in his own assemblies.
Comments
By Joe Miller on August 26th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
How sad… but I love the Obama “One” video. Very funny!
By dersteppenwolf68 on August 29th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
One of the factors that may kill HR3200 is that the very same people who helped create the current Democratic majority, don’t have a dog in this fight.
Young people who came out in droves because of slogans like “Vote or Die” haven’t found the same calling when it comes to Health Care Insurance Reform. Most young people are healthy, many choosing to by-pass health insurance all together, relying on the emergency room system as a worst-case scenario.
Few young people now realize that that by the time they reach their 40’s, they’ll have a lot more to lose if they forgo coverage, or lose their family’s corporate-sponsored health insurance after being unemployed.
If the status quo goes unchallenged, there will continue to be :
1. Unchecked profits for the insurance companies
2. a TRUE re-distribution of wealth …
* … from those able to afford health care coverage …
* … to pay for those who can’t (or don’t)
3. Ever increasing premiums will bury the middle class
4. Large corporations will, in-effect, enslave their workers because
* they alone can provide group coverage for those who’s families
have pre-existing conditions.
5. This keeps small business from being able to hire qualified workers who cannot afford to lose their large corporate sponsored plans.
Affordable health care insurance has become the new “American Dream”. In many families (including those WITH coverage), it’s become more important to keep health care coverage than to keep their home.