Times-Standard - Thousands call in to Thompson town hall; Congressman discusses Medicare, health care and senior issues
With the national debt crisis dominating headlines, North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson held a telephone town hall meeting on senior issues with his constituents Wednesday and pledged to protect Medicare and Social Security.
”These programs have helped generations of seniors take charge of their health care and their lives, and I'm committed to keeping them strong for future generations,” Thompson said.
During the town hall meeting -- which spanned more than an hour -- Thompson fielded questions from constituents throughout his 1st Congressional District, touching on a wide variety of topics of interest to seniors. However, much of the conversation centered around Medicare and health care costs, with Thompson repeatedly touting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -- the health care reform bill -- signed into law last year.
The telephonic meeting came on a day when national headlines were dominated by news of a meeting between President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders at the White House that ended with accusations that Obama is playing politics with Medicare. With an Aug. 2 deadline looming to either raise the federal government's borrowing limit or risk credit default, tensions are rising in Washington on spending issues.
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has proposed a plan that would address the national deficit in part by revamping Medicare, forcing future beneficiaries to receive government subsidies to purchase private health insurance.
An informal poll conducted by Thompson's staff of the 16,289 participants in Thompson's telephone meeting Wednesday found that roughly 70 percent of participants deemed the current state of Medicare “excellent” or “good.”
Thompson said he's against a drastic revamping of the Program, noting that the Congressional Budget Office estimates Ryan's plan would double seniors' health care costs by 2022.
”It's just wrong,” he said.
The congressman was also adamant that he doesn't see any drastic changes in order for Social Security either.
”I'm not one that believes Social Security is bankrupt or getting ready to go over the cliff,” he said. “Right now, if nothing were done, it would pay 100 percent of benefits until 2037. Then, if you still did nothing, it would pay 75 percent of benefits. So, really, you're talking about after 2037, having a 25-percent problem.”
Thompson said the debates surrounding Medicare and Social Security are personal for him, noting his grandmother worked much of her life and came to depend on these programs.
”It was Social Security and Medicare that gave her security and piece of mind,” he said.
Asked about expanding health care reform to include a single-payer, government run system, Thompson said there simply isn't the political will to make it happen, though he noted the “overwhelming majority” of doctors in his district favor such a system.
Thompson said much of the public has simply been led to believe a single-payer system is akin to “some kind of Communist plot to take over the health care system.”
He cited such talking points as an example of how misinformation came to rule much of the debate on health care reform.
”In my view, it was actually some of the more humorous times during our debate,” Thompson said, recalling town hall meetings he held, facing angry constituents. “They'd say, 'I like my Medicare. Keep your government hands off of it,' when Medicare is, in fact, a government program.' ... We didn't have the votes for a public option, and wouldn't even come close to having the votes for a single-payer system.”