The sad truth about the current debate over healthcare is that it has little to do with real reform while there is little informed debate going on, says NU Associate Editor Mark Ruquet, after attending a local town hall meeting this week.
I'll leave it to Mark to recount his experience and conclusions in his own words:
On Monday evening I attempted to attend a town hall meeting of Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. in Piscataway, N.J. He also happens to head the Energy and Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee. The meeting was to start at 7 p.m. I arrived at 6:30 p.m. I didn't get in.
Around 1,000 people were lined up to enter the municipal meeting hall that only holds 150. To the congressman's credit, his representatives told the crowd that he would hold several one-hour sessions until everyone had a chance to enter the hall. Anyone who couldn't stay could find a representative of the congressman and leave written questions or concerns for him.
From where I was in line, I estimated I wouldn't get in until 1 a.m., and abandoned my effort. But I didn't miss out on the show.
There were plenty of protestors, including a table was set-up by LaRouchePAC.com with signs calling President Obama "Nuts" and photos of the president with a Hitler mustache penciled in.
Handmade signs dotted the crowd (one of which is pictured with this blog)–some supporting reform ("HMO CEO, Thank You, Obscene Profits") and others opposed ("Our Health, Our Business, Not Obama's Business").
Then there were the loud voices and finger-pointing as individuals and groups began arguing. The exchanges were intense and the police were on hand to keep an eye on the crowd. From my vantage point, I could see pat-downs before people entered the building, and there was a metal detector set up for everyone to pass through.
I once attended a town hall meeting of Rep. Pallone's a number of years ago. I'm not sure there were 10 people there. This event far surpassed anything I'm sure his staff has ever experienced. In fact, a second meeting held the next evening was switched to a larger venue in Red Bank, N.J., in anticipation of a larger crowd.
What I learned from all of this is that there are three camps attending these meetings: supporters, opponents and those who want to learn more. What I also learned is that of the three, the most vocal, angry, nasty and disrespectful people are those who say they are in opposition of reform.
However, from listening to them, the opposition has less to do with the subject of health care reform than a deep-seated suspicion about the government's competence.
The suspicion is fueled by inaccurate information that many in the opposition has grasped onto as truth and won't let go. Their minds are made-up, and they are using these lies as a bludgeon.
I listened to a housewife and a history teacher discuss their differing views, but it soon escalated, in the housewife's mind, as an attack on her conservative beliefs. What was more confounding was that through their entire discourse, the subject of healthcare came up only twice. The housewife's argument was that the government's actions were unconstitutional, and she became flustered when asked to "show me where it says it in the Constitution" that Washington can't get involved in healthcare.
When the history teacher asked the housewife for her suggestions to remedy the health care system, she had none, and demanded to know what his opinion was.
When I finally left them, they seemed to be coming to some agreement over the evils of insurance companies.
Two retired gentlemen sat against a rail and took everything in. Both said they were against government involvement in healthcare. One of them cited the British system allegedly killing patients on purpose who are elderly and may need extended care by keeping them in ambulances for more than four hours so they don't have to treated. (I checked this one out on the Web and found stories of problems with ambulances getting to a scene, but nothing about a government conspiracy to kill people).
The other gentlemen said his wife would be dead under the government's proposals. He didn't elaborate.
One suggested the biggest help would be tort reform to help drive down costs. He also suggested the government take the money it plans to spend on the program and instead give it to the uninsured to purchase insurance on the open market.
In this current atmosphere of hostility and mutual distrust, the people being left out are the ones who want to learn more. One woman was on the phone talking about how she was coming to the meeting to learn something about this debate. After the announcement was made that everyone was not getting in until later, she was seen walking back to her car.
If a healthcare reform package fails this time, the conservative wing will beat its chest proudly and say they "won," but the losers will be the 47 million Americans still without insurance (among them some in my own family) and the millions of others who go underinsured and are going bankrupt because of it (also in my family).
Is that something to be proud of?
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