My Town Hall Experience: Part 1

Many of you know that my congressman, John Lewis (GA 5th District), held an open forum on health care yesterday in Atlanta. Fortunately, I was able to attend, even though the meeting was held at 9 AM on a Monday when most people, including myself, are usually working. This is simply an account of my experience yesterday, the mistakes I made and the successes I had. I invite you to learn from my experiences and attend your own town hall meetings in the future. I used the forum not so much to speak to Rep. Lewis as much as I did to speak to the other people in the room. They needed to hear the facts, and that is exactly what I gave them when I spoke.

I estimate that there were upwards of 150 individuals in attendance, and many voices were heard. Rep. Lewis has a panel of people with him that included his Legislative Director, Michaeleen Crowell, a regional representative from the AFL-CIO, a couple of doctors and a representative from the AARP. From Congressman Lewis and Mrs. Crowell we heard the same talking points that we've been hearing for months. Some specifics include:

• There are 46 million uninsured people in the United States.
  
• This health care bill will reduce costs
• The CBO estimates that 11 million of the uninsured would enroll in the government plan
• No one will be forced to enroll in the government plan
  

I could go on, but none of these points are new. After hearing Lewis and Crowell go through their talking points the floor was opened up to individual questions. Dozens of people rushed to the microphone. I was number 4 in line. The first person who spoke was very much in favor of a public plan. She has two diabetic children and she says her health care premiums have gone up to a staggering $3,000 per month! Is this outrageous? Absolutely! Does it need to change? Yes. I can see why she wants a public plan. She is only thinking about her children. She doesn't care how they are covered. She's just being a mom. I cannot fault her for that. Unfortunately, though, she thinks that the public plan will be better for her children. In actuality, a simple reinsurance plan would cover her needs, and her children would receive much better care. A new study from the Cato Institute outlines how "government programs cost more and deliver lower-quality care than private insurance." I wish I knew her name so I could send it to her.

Two more comments, and I had the microphone. I started by stating that my goal was for everyone to have access to health insurance. I said this so no one could accuse me of trying to prevent people from accessing health care, something that happens all too often when anyone criticizes the government plan. I then made the following points that came straight from the extensive research that I have done (some of which you can find in my previous post):

• Using the very same Census data that Rep. Lewis used for his 46 million uninsured number I stated that 17.6 million of those people make more than $50,000 per year. As a 23 year old making $25,000 per year not too long ago, I was able to provide for my own health insurance. Many of the 17.6 million likely choose to go without insurance even though they can afford it.
  
• I cited the recent Congressional testimony of Congressional Budget Office Director, Douglas Elmendorf, who stated that the legislation would increase "federal spending on health care to a significant degree." This statement is 100% contradictory to Rep. Lewis' claim that the current health care legislation would reduce spending.
  
• In response to Rep. Lewis and Michaeleen Crowell's blatant lie that we will not be forced on a public health plan I cited a recent article from Investor's Business Daily, which found that on page 16 of the current bill private insurance is effectively outlawed. You can keep your current plan for now, but if you want to change plans (read: change jobs) you must enroll in the public plan. No new private insurance plans are allowed to be created after the public plan takes effect.
  
• I followed up on Mrs. Crowell's statement that 11 million of the uninsured would enroll in the public plan by citing research (see full explanation here) that shows that the same amount of people would become insured if we could simply buy insurance across state lines. To strengthen my point I stated that millions more would be added if we de-coupled insurance from employment by ending exclusive favorable tax treatment of employer sponsored plans.
• Finally, I asked why they are favoring a plan that, according to Mrs. Crowell herself, would only add 11 million uninsured people to the public plan while research clearly shows that opening insurance markets across state lines and changing tax treatment of insurance plans would insure more individuals.
  

Congressman Lewis and Michaeleen Crowell did not have much to say in response to my question. Mrs. Crowell stated that the ideas that I mentioned had, in fact, been discussed in Washington, but she didn't give me a reason why they weren't included in the bill, something that did not impress me. She then attempted to tell me that my facts were wrong, and that the bill does not include language that states that we will be required to enroll in the government plan if we change plans. I spoke up and said that she could read it in the Financial Times (yeah, I cited the wrong source to her. It's Investor's Business Daily, but the information still exists, which is the important thing). She told me she was not aware of it. I found her last statement very interesting, because Congressman Lewis, at the beginning of the meeting, said he had read the full bill. If he is not aware of the language cited by the Investor's Business Daily then he is clearly lying. Look at page 16 of the bill (starting at line 6), and read it for yourself. It is there.

It's one thing to be lied to by the media and/or your congressperson on television. It's an entirely different experience when your congressman lies to your face. That is what happened to me today. I stated the facts, and my facts were returned with falsehoods.