SC's Spratt trying to balance health care stance

By Seanna Adcox

The Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Democratic U.S. Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina is spending the last few days of Congress' summer break trying to advocate his party's health care reform proposals while also insisting he's not just hewing to a party line.

The Democratic chairman of the House Budget Committee will hold his second town hall meeting in as many days Thursday in Rock Hill, near his native York, saying he wants to explain the issue's complexity and the need to curtail escalating health care costs.

"We need to do something and do it now," he told about 500 people gathered Wednesday night in Sumter, adding, "This bill is very much a work in progress."

Spratt, one of two Democratic congressmen in South Carolina, says he understands voters' fears and anger. The 66-year-old, who's wearing a cast on his right foot following surgery, says he can't think of anything more scary than losing his health insurance. While people with insurance may gripe, Spratt said, he realizes they don't want the government meddling with it, for fear change will come at their detriment.

But the reality, he said, is that nearly half of all health care in America is already provided by the federal government, through a host of programs including Medicare, military and veterans' care, and federal employees' health plans.

Spratt assured 50-year-old Darrell Owens, a Sumter quadriplegic who lives on his own, that the bill won't affect his Medicare and Medicaid, but Owens wasn't convinced. "They're trying to cut costs, right?"

Asked repeatedly whether he would vote his party's line on health care or the will of his constituents, Spratt responded, "It's possible for the two to converge."

In South Carolina, an estimated 16 percent of residents lack health insurance, ranking 34th nationwide, according to the latest report from Minnesota-based United Health Foundation.

A need to balance voters' opposing viewpoints is "true of all Democrats, but more true of moderates," said political scientist David Rohde at Duke University.

The people who oppose Democrats at town hall meetings may not have voted for them previously, so the lawmakers are not necessarily losing support, "but it's a potential problem, especially in these meetings. They have to be careful about how they handle this and what they say," Rohde said. "This is an issue that gets people riled up."

Spratt's 5th District stretches more than 130 miles across 14 counties in northern South Carolina.

York County, Spratt's home just south of Charlotte, N.C., has grown exponentially — accounting for 30 percent of the district's registered voters — and solidly leans Republican. But the district also includes some of the state's most rural counties and highest unemployment. In July, four counties in the district fell among South Carolina's 10 worst in unemployment, with jobless rates in two of them topping 21 percent.

Many who opposed health reform plans currently in committee still opened their questions with a thank you to South Carolina's senior congressman. But there were tense moments and jeers at Spratt's belief that reform can come without adding to the nation's debt.

"Why should I trust the government with anything?" yelled Leigh Evans of Rembert, saying he's disgusted the powerful chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, which writes the tax code, is under investigation over his taxes.

"How many people in this room would want to see Medicare disbanded because they can't trust the government?" Spratt responded.

Trying to speak above applause on tort reform, Spratt said he agreed liability caps should be part of the package. He repeatedly noted his daughters and sons-in-law are physicians, so he understands doctors practice preventive medicine.

"It's a good way of saying we're serious about cost containment," he said, though he was unsure how much it would save.

He tried to assure the audience he was in no rush to pass a bill, and said he'd told his colleagues to slow down. Spratt also said he doubted a so-called public option — a government-run program to compete with private insurers — would pass. He said he recognized that a government option subsidized like Medicare would not be fair competition, though he believes a compromise to keep costs in check is possible.

He also said the bill needs more cost-cutting provisions.

But he recognized it was a crowd with strong opinions.

"I've never come away from a meeting like this believing I'd convinced everyone in the audience," he said afterward.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.