Thompson listens: Congressmans town hall draws emotional crowd to talk health care

Eureka Times Standard

For a moment, it seemed North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson would spend more time shushing the raucous crowd at his town hall meeting on health care reform than answering its questions.

The standing-room-only crowd at Redwood Acres' Home Economics Building Wednesday night was seething with emotion and, at times, it boiled over. In the first 30 minutes of the meeting, Thompson repeatedly shushed the crowd, and pleaded for quiet.

”Here's the deal: Let people talk,” Thompson said as a chorus of cheers and boos cascaded from the audience. Several minutes later, Thompson issued another plea: “Everyone stop and pay everyone the common respect to be heard.”

The evening hit a fever pitch when a Humboldt County Sheriff's deputy escorted one man who would not stop yelling from the building. But, eventually, the cheers, boos and angry cries from the audience tapered off, and Thompson was able to answer questions, receive feedback on the House of Representatives' trio of health care reform bills -- one of which he helped author -- and hear people's concerns.

The debate over health care reform has been raging across the country with Congress due to return from recess to consider a total of five bills -- three in the House and two in the Senate -- aimed at reforming the nation's health care system.

The landmark, 1,018-page legislation produced by the House Ways and Means Committee, of which Thompson is a member, aims to bring health insurance to an estimated 37 million people who are currently living without.

Under the plan, the federal government would be responsible for ensuring that all people, regardless of income or pre-existing conditions, have access to an affordable insurance plan. Individuals and employers would have new obligations to get coverage, or face penalties.

Wednesday, Thompson offered only brief opening remarks, and instead spent the bulk of his more than 90 minutes at Redwood Acres hearing from the crowd. His responses clearly illustrated three things: He feels there is a great need for reform; he supports the creation of a government-run insurance option; and none of Congress' proposals include single-payer health care, or bringing everyone under a universal, government-run system.

Thompson said from 2000 to 2007 Californians saw health insurance premiums rise 95 percent while their wages only increased 19 percent on average. Premiums, Thompson continued, are expected to rise another 9 percent next year. At another point in the evening, Thompson said an average of 14,000 Americans lose their health insurance every day.

The system, he said, is in need of reform.

”One out of every six dollars we make in this country goes to health care -- it's not sustainable,” Thompson said. “If we don't (pass health care reform), it's going to crush businesses in this country. ... To even think that the model we have now is sustainable is wrong.”

Thompson said providing insurance to those currently living without will increase the risk pool for insurers and result in lower costs. The congressman said other factors -- like increasing the number of providers and furthering the use of preventative medicine -- will also help lower costs over time.

Another key factor in suppressing costs, Thompson said, is introducing a public option to compete with private insurance companies, which will drive costs down. Thompson said plainly that he supports the public option, and that he doesn't imagine it is possible that any bill will pass the House without one.

But, Thompson was quick and clear in saying that a public option is not the same as a single-payer system.

Thompson likened the proposed health care reform to auto insurance, where drivers are required by law to carry insurance, but are free to choose the plan that best suits them. Those who are happy with their health insurance coverage, as long as they have it, won't be required to make any changes, Thompson said.

”Everyone in this discussion and this debate in Washington, D.C. has been very clear on the fact that if you like the insurance you have, you keep the insurance you have,” he said.

When someone from the crowd asked about a single-payer system, Thompson said it's off the table because it doesn't leave that element of choice.

”The system you proposed violates that principle, and it's not going to fly,” he said.

Dan Ihara, a Humboldt State University economics lecturer, spoke at the meeting and likened the health care debate to roads, some of which are publicly funded and some of which require tolls.

”With the health care issue, there are only toll roads,” Ihara said, adding that he supports a public option.

Another woman said health care reform that requires everyone to get coverage but doesn't include a public option would do nothing but line the pockets of private insurance companies.

Others disagreed.

One person told Thompson that requiring coverage for all and increasing taxes to pay for it is essentially punishing people who have insurance to provide for those who don't. Others expressed concerns over how the bill will be funded, urging Thompson not to pass further tax burdens on to them.

Thompson said emphatically that whatever bill emerges from Congress must be paid for and cannot add to the national debt. However, the congressman did not go into details of how that would be achieved.

The town hall meeting drew hundreds of people, and scores more left shortly after arriving and learning all seats in the hall were taken.

Several hours before the meeting's 5:30 p.m. start time, a line of about a dozen people had formed outside. Roger L. Smith of McKinleyville said he arrived about eight hours early to ensure he was the first in line and would be able to voice his support for a single-payer system.

Hollis McCoy of McKinleyville also arrived early, sporting an American flag shirt with a copy of the Constitution in hand, and said he had some things to say to Thompson about “Obamacare,” as some have dubbed the reform proposals.

”It's going to destroy the best health care system in the world,” McCoy said. “If it wasn't the best, people from other systems wouldn't come here for treatment.”

While emotion seemed to prevail in the beginning of the meeting, it seemed to recede some as the night went on, and as Thompson and others in attendance pleaded for a calm, reasoned discussion of the issues.

”We're all in this together,” one man told the crowd. “I don't care what side you're on, we're all in this together.”