Town hall meeting draws spirited debate on health care reform

By Shelia M. Poole

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Kay Butler Hallahan of Powder Springs came to the town hall meeting to talk about her friend, Phyllis.

Phyllis didn’t go to the emergency room when she recently got very sick because “she was afraid how much it would cost.”

Her friend died.

“I don’t want anyone else to have to go through this,” said a teary Hallahan. “If my friend had had access to public health insurance, especially with subsidies, I really feel in my heart that she would be alive today.”

Hallahan was among 150 people who came to the Collar Community Center in Austell on Friday to discuss health care reform with AARP representatives and Rep. David Scott. The town hall meeting was sponsored by AARP Georgia. The organization supports reform, but has not endorsed a particular plan.

The meeting, which lasted about two hours, at times, became heated, but was civil, and there was a heavy police presence at the event. Organizers tried to limit the questions to two minutes each and audience members were warned early on that people who misbehaved would be asked to leave.

“I’m concerned about what’s in it [any health care legislation],” said Heidi Hanz, of Marietta, a church music director. She said she wanted to make sure there were no cuts in Medicare and, in fact, wanted to see coverage broadened, especially for assisted living.

Cas Robinson, state president of AARP Georgia, said there are a lot of myths and distortions circulating about health care reform including that there would be death panels and a rationing of health care.

“There is absolutely no truth to that,” he said. AARP’s priorities for reform include closing the coverage gap for Medicare prescription drug costs, attacking waste, fraud and abuse in the current system and reducing health care disparities.

Several people waited outside the community center with hopes that there would be room inside.

One of them was Carl Peeples of Douglasville.

“I believe in laissez-faire,” he said. “Government should never have the right to tell me what to buy whether it’s grasshoppers, peanuts, baseballs or health care.”

Rep. David Scott, said thousands of people who had health insurance yesterday won’t have that same health insurance today “because the costs are too high.”

He said there were 147,000 people in his district without coverage. His district includes parts of Cobb, Clayton, Douglas, Fulton, Henry and DeKalb.

“Nothing we are trying to do will eliminate choice,” he said. Scott kept his cool even as he came under fire from several participants.

Soon after the town hall ended, another meeting on health care was scheduled to take place, organized by two physicians who wanted to discuss “an evidence-based approach to health care reform.” One of them was Dr. Brian E. Hill, the health care provider whose questioning of Scott during an earlier town hall drew a heated response from the congressman. That exchanged drew heavy Internet traffic.

The national AARP stance has put it in a precarious position with some members.

Between July 1 and mid-August, AARP nationally lost about 60,000 members. But during that same period, said spokesman Drew Nannis, the organization brought in 1.8 million new members. Overall, AARP has more than 40 million members.

Standing in the wings is the Georgia-based American Seniors Association, which bills itself as the conservative alternative to AARP.

“Our position is that we certainly need health care reform but we do not support these bills,” that the group feels will limit patient choice and “attack Medicare,” among other things, said ASA President Stuart Barton in an earlier interview.