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While most of the crowd last night at Rep. Rob Wittman's town hall meeting appeared to oppose the health care reform proposals, there were some supporters in the audience at Dodd Auditorium at the University of Mary Washington.
Rep. Rob Wittman explained points he thinks are important in any health care reform legislation.
Mary Washington Hospital ER Dr. Coleen Rickabaugh said in her view, government-run health care doesn't work.
Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Montross, listens to Alton T. Taylor Jr. of King George during last night's town hall. |
Rep. Rob Wittman told a town hall crowd that he believes health care needs reforming, but that the current Democratic proposals to do so need to be trashed.
Pointing to a copy of House Bill 3202 on a stool, Wittman, R-Montross, said he can't support it because he believes it doesn't reduce costs, doesn't focus on uninsured Americans, and that it changes parts of the system that work.
"I think we need to come together and solve this problem," Wittman said. "Let's put [the Democratic bill] in the recycling bin and let's pull out a blank sheet of paper [and] have people from both sides of the aisle" work on a plan.
Wittman said he has read the "substantive parts" of the Democrats' bill, but that Democrats should have worked more with Republicans when crafting the bill. He said a workable health care bill will take more time and consideration--and bipartisanship--than has been given to the current proposals.
Wittman listed 13 points he thinks health care reform should cover, including making health care available and affordable for all Americans, regardless of pre-existing conditions; protecting people's ability to choose their own coverage and providers; medical liability reforms; encouraging prevention of disease; creating greater transparency in medical coverage; and cracking down on waste and fraud.
The University of Mary Washington's Dodd Auditorium was mostly full for Wittman's two-hour town hall.
The crowd seemed largely opposed to health care reform proposals; they cheered speakers who expressed opposition to the reform bill, and several of those who disagreed were booed by some in the crowd, despite Wittman's urgings to be polite.
Questioners--chosen from names attendees wrote on note cards that Wittman randomly drew from a box--expressed concerns including taxpayer funding for abortions, who makes end-of-life care decisions, the expense of getting a medical degree, and whether illegal immigrants are eligible for taxpayer-funded health care programs.
Some also said they view the health care reform bill as symptomatic of a larger problem in the federal government, of an executive and legislative branch that overstep their bounds and are not responsive enough to their constituents.
"Health care is bringing up the fact of everything else that is wrong in our system," said a man from Stafford who wanted Wittman to support legislation allowing recalls of congressmen and senators. (Wittman said he would).
Dr. Colleen Rickabaugh, an emergency room physician, said Medicare and Medicaid patients often have trouble finding a doctor who will accept them as patients.
"Government-run health care does not work," she said, adding that if Congress passes a health care reform bill containing a public option, that members of Congress should have to go on that public plan.
Herb Lux, of Spotsylvania, said Congress doesn't have the constitutional authority to require health care or health insurance, while another man urged Wittman to investigate more thoroughly the committee staffers who write the bills and to take a stronger leadership role among Republicans in opposing the reform plan.
Alton Taylor Jr. said he was worried the bill would limit health care for senior citizens.
Under the bill, he claimed, "I'd be sent down the trail to die to me, this bill would be genocide to the old people in this country."
Taylor and several others said they're concerned about illegal immigration, and the possibility of taxpayer subsidized health care for illegal immigrants.
"I didn't do my part so I could give an illegal immigrant part of my Social Security," said one man.
While the bill does not allow illegal immigrants to get such care, Wittman said it also doesn't provide any means to check citizenship status.
Supporters of reform were fewer.
Caroline Carr, of Stafford, said she is on a panel Wittman set up to help advise him on health care. She said she doesn't understand why people would say that health care is a privilege.
"We are rationing care by saying if you don't have money, you can't have care," Carr said. "Health care is a right I can't imagine living in a country where health care is something that if you can't afford, you can't have."
Wittman told her that he does support making health care more affordable for people who are uninsured, but that community health clinics and free clinics help bridge that gap.
One woman lost the crowd's approval by saying that Republicans lost the election and "have to just fall in line."
"Where are you willing to meet to get something done?" she asked Wittman, as someone in the crowd yelled "We're not!"
Wittman told her the minority party has the right to be heard as well.
Fredericksburg will host another health care town hall meeting tomorrow, when Sen. Mark Warner holds a town hall meeting at the Fredericksburg Expo Center. It begins at 7 p.m.
Chelyen Davis: 540/368-5028
Email: cdavis@freelancestar.com
