Gabby’s Health Care Town Hall
After a lengthy absence, Gabby Giffords finally got the message and started to show up at her own scheduled health care events. Busy gal that she is, she was three for three in Arizona this week, showing up for town hall events in Sierra Vista, Green Valley and tonight, in Tucson.
BIG crowd tonight, overflowing into the courtyard, with estimates approaching 3000 people. Both sides of the health-care debate were well represented. After the usual MC rhetoric and an brief invocation, we got right down to the Q and A section. And it started out strong..
Question #1: Why is congress is so afraid of the lawyers that they cannot include tort reform? (The entire crowd went wild). GG: I personally believe that any legislation should include tort reform, but there is much debate as to how much tort reform would affect the community.
Question: The president tells us we can keep our existing policy, but isn’t he being disingenuous when at the same time the President says that here are going to be cuts in the Medicare system? GG: Nothing is going to change in Medicare and Medicaid. Single Payer is not on the table. Medicare Advantage is not going away but some insurance company CEO salaries are going to come down.
Question: With Billions of proposed cuts to Medicare, why are the insured forced to bear these cuts to cover the uninsured? And aren’t most of the uninsured illegal immigrants? GG: I have read the bill and illegals will not be covered. Also, I am working closely with DHS chief Janet Napolitano to increase border security. (That comment was met with laughter. Yeah Gabby, we all know that Janet is on the case).
Question: The CBO report reveals that the Health Care Bill will create unsustainable deficits. How do you reconcile keeping our monetary system intact with what the CBO says will cause huge deficits that will last for years? GG: Waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicare system must be fixed now. The Pay-Go program is in place again, and I will not vote for any program that is not paid for. And most important, if you make more than $250-$500k a year, you will be taxed.
Question: With an $11 trillion dollar deficit, why should we trust you with our health care? (met with huge applause). GG: We must look at the efficiencies of the existing systems and build upon them.
Question: If we add 50 million more people to an already bankrupt system, won’t that bankrupt the system even faster? GG: We must cut costs by reforming anti-trust laws, forcing tort reform and by utilizing electronic billing.
So there you have it, a sampling of some the great questions at tonight’s show. Everyone in attendance agreed that the current system is sorely lacking and it needs to be changed. The challenge is in the implementation of those changes. Big government public option? Insurance cooperatives? I’ve even heard the idea of making ALL health-related expenses tax-deductible. That sounds simple enough. The president could sign that into law today.
The battle for health care reform has been going on for years. It started in the 1930′s, and most recently, Hillary tried it when Bill was president. The American people shot it down then. And now, we have returned to this battle once more.
One final attendee asked this penetrating question, “Why can’t we just buy our health insurance in the same manner that we buy our car insurance”? Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
Tags: border security, cbo report, ceo salaries, Gabrielle Giffords, health care bill, health care debate, illegal immigrants, janet napolitano, single payer, town hall, Tucson
Dear Papatodd,
Your last questioner asked why we can’t buy health insurance the way we buy auto insurance? You thought it was a brillant idea. Obviously you are quick to embrace solutions when you don’t even understand the problems. The reason every [legal] car owner carries auto LIABILITY insurance is that every state in the union mandates it. Why? Because even great big independent minded guys like yourself may have come to realize that the victIms of vehicular accidents deserve protection, at least SOME protection, so the government[THAT DIRTY WORD] passed laws that require coverage as a condition for registering your car. If the insurance carriers won’t write it for every owner the state MANDATES that the insurers MUST write the minimum amount of coverage or turn in their license to do business in the state. Wow! Look how the govt. intrudes on our lives.
Because the industry WON’T insure FLOOD insurance, the same big bad government undertook to provide it in reasonable amounts of coverage. I can’t remember anyone is the left wing states of Kentucky or Tennessee complaining about the flood insurance program run by the govt.
But when it comes to health care, coverage for human beings, citizens for god sake, you buy into the unbelievable B.S. the same industry is spending millions a day to defeat. All the majority of the public wants is an option. A govt option via medicare which already exists. And you and likeminded clueless fearful people, perhaps well meaning people, are fighting tooth & and nail to prevent the very thing that will reduce their medical costs and increase their quality of care. It’s really sad that the industry has bought both the Congress and the Senate as you know only too well and dumbfounded the public.
Publish this.
Herb
Dear Popatodd,
Your last questioner asked why we can’t buy health insurance the way we buy auto insurance? You thought it was a brillant idea. Obviously you are quick to embrace solutions when you don’t even understand the problems. The reason every [legal] car owner carries auto LIABILITY insurance is that every state in the union mandates it. Why? Because even great big independent minded guys like yourself may have come to realize that the victIms of vehicular accidents deserve protection, at least SOME protection, so the government[THAT DIRTY WORD] passed laws that require coverage as a condition for registering your car. If the insurance carriers won’t write it for every owner the state MANDATES that the insurers MUST write the minimum amount of coverage or turn in their license to do business in the state. Wow! Look how the govt. intrudes on our lives.
Because the industry WON’T insure FLOOD insurance, the same big bad government undertook to provide it in reasonable amounts of coverage. I can’t remember anyone in the left wing states of Kentucky or Tennessee complaining about the flood insurance program run by the govt.
But when it comes to health care, coverage for human beings, citizens for god sake, you buy into the unbelievable B.S. the same industry is spending millions a day to defeat. All the majority of the public wants is an option. A govt option via medicare which already exists. And you and likeminded cluel,ess fearful people, perhaps well meaning people, are fighting tooth & nail to prevent the very thing that will reduce their medical costs and increase their quality of care. It’s really sad that the industry has bought both the Congress and the Senate as you know only too well and dumbfounded the public.
Publish this.
Herb
@herb
Herb,
Some very interesting points to be sure. I’ll take on the flood insurance issue first. The reason, as I understand it, the insurance companies refuse to insure flood plain customers is because they live in a flood plain. In humble opinion, to continue to pay out for the rebuilding of flood plain incidents is fiscally negligent and showing a complete lack of plain old common sense. If I had been flooded out time and time again, I might come to the conclusion that, hey, maybe I shouldn’t build there any more. But to o then have the feds/taxpayers step in and pay themAGAIN is rewarding the very people that are jsut plain too stupid to realize tht maybe they shouldn’t live in a flood zone.
Living in the Arizona desert, we have our annual monsoon season, with regular massive torrential downpours. The noramlly dry washes not only fill with water, but can become quite dangerous with fast moving waters. Yearly, folks are caught in the raging waters and are swept downstream, sometimes even resulting in death. Happens every year, like clockwork. In the county where I live, the people who lack the common sense to stay out of the water-filled washes and are subsequencly swept down stream are ticketed and are also charged for the expenses the county incurs for their rescue. The ticket is aptly called “THE STUPID TICKET”. Why? Because those people were too stupid to stay out of the wash/flood. The people who live in the annual flood plains and then act surprised when it happens again, should not be rewarded with taxpayer dollars. They need to be ticketed with the stupid ticket.
I yeild the floor to my worthy opponent…………..
Dear ?
Thank you for your comments. I agree with you that those who live on flood plains and have repeated damages should not be reembursed. Also I concur with you and Az’s approach to rescue charges.
My criticism is the failure of republicans and particularly convervatives to recognize that all citizens of our great country should be entitled to medical care as provided by medicare not at 65, but at birth. For this reason I favor a public health care option. This means the govt. would provide an avenue by which the public could decide for itself whether the private industry or the public option is best for them. For years I’ve heard claims from my conservative friends that the govt can’t run anything well. Obviously that’s not accurate since seniors will fight to the death to protect their social security, their medicare, not just private plans funded by medicare.
Recently a prescription plan was passed. It contains provisions designed to add billions to the cost of drugs. A boon to the indusrty, not the taxpayer. If the govt is so inept, why did the legislation PROHIBIT medicare from negotiating prices with the drug makers? Why particularly when the V.A. can and does just that?
Everyone agrees that the health care system in our country is grossly overpriced and the AVERAGE outcomes are much worse that those in western europe where the costs are half those in America. While we have islands of excellence our overall care is mediocre. Clearly we need affordable health care. Every citizen should be entitled to it I believe, and every person above the poverty line should pay. Anything radical about that?
Herb
Ok, a couple of questions, not big idea stuff, but real world stuff.
#1 How are we going to pay for this? I have read that with “wellness programs” and electronic billing, that will vcover it. That is absolute BS!
#2 If we add 40+million more people onto the books, how is the system going to handle this influx of people without liiting access to services?
back at ya,
PapaTodd