Town hall health care meeting held to inform about reform
Gregory D. Cook
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The debate on national health care reform came to Bakersfield on August 26, when Congressman Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) hosted a town hall meeting in the Icardo Center on the Cal State Bakersfield campus.
The purpose of the meeting, according to McCarthy, was to inform citizens about the shortcomings of the current health care reform bill and to give people a chance to voice their concerns. McCarthy opened the meeting by stating that while he agrees that health care reform is needed, he is opposed to the current bill.
"We've got a number of people paying more attention to politics than ever before," McCarthy said in an interview before the meeting.
"We can come up with common sense ideas to solve our health care problems." The congressman said he hoped to gather public opinion on the issue of health care to take back to Washington. "We can present those [ideas] and actually solve the problem," he said. "Because the current bill does not."
During the two-hour town hall meeting, McCarthy answered questions and listened to comments from a crowd of nearly 3,000 people House Resolution 3200, America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, was introduced before Congress in July by John Dingell (D-Mich.). The bill would seek to extend health care coverage to approximately 40 million uninsured Americans. It would accomplish this in part by setting up a government- run insurance plan. Many of the comments made expressed concerns that the government was overstepping its bounds by enacting such sweeping reforms.
Attendee Paul Mimeault asked, "Where in the Constitution of the United States does it say it's the federal government's business to handle our health care?" His question drew cheers from the crowd.
"I'll tell you," McCarthy answered. "I've read it. It doesn't say it."
Other people voiced concerns over the cost to the taxpayers of a government run health care program.
"I, like most people, don't want to be financially raped by insurance companies or financially raped by my government," said Mike Roadcap, a local businessman. His comment was also answered with cheers and calls of "amen" from the crowd.
While most people spoke out against the current healthcare bill, Billy Olsen, a former health care company executive who also suffers from multiple sclerosis, made an impassioned plea for some sort of reform. "My shots for M.S. cost $2,000 a month," Olsen said. "What private insurance company wants me?"
"You people who are healthy think that we have the greatest health care system," Olsen continued. "Ask the disabled who came here tonight. We are suffering, and we need our government to stand up for us."
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