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The pols come out for Philly health care chat

PHILADELPHIA—Seven current and former Congressmen came together here Monday night to talk health care reform during a town hall meeting at The Inquirer building. Hosted by conservative talk-show host Dom Giordano, the event drew a crowd of mostly conservative voters who came to hear what the pols had to say about the possibility of a public health care option, one of the more contentious segments of the emerging legislation.

Democratic Congressmen Bob Brady, Chakka Fattah and Joe Sestak got boos from the conservative crowd. Senator Arlen Specter was invited to attend the meeting but was unable to come but did, however, hold an interview with Giordano before the meeting. In the brief phone interview, Specter said that the attitude of the conservative crowds attending town hall meetings, dubbed “Tea Party Protesters,” were not indicative of the general sentiment in America toward health care reform.

Democrats should hope so, as the crowd was fiercely conservative and supportive of Pat Toomey, the Republican candidate who is running against Arlen Specter and Joe Sestak in the 2010 Senate race. Republican candidates were clearly relishing the loud cheers and applause from the conservative fan base, while Democrats were often shouted down and in many instances incapable of speaking over the din of boos and shouts from the angry audience.

The pols mostly disagreed on various points about the public option and argued over whether or not the public option would raise the average cost of health care coverage in the country, as well as whether or not a public option would give businesses an incentive to stop covering their employees.

But they could agree on several things, including that increased competition is an important and necessary path toward better health care, and that opening up the restrictions against buying health care from in-state providers would be an effective way of increasing competition. When the conversation turned to whether or not a public option should be included in the bill, the shouts and boos escalated.”You’re lying!” shouted one member of the audience to Sestak. He was quickly told to sit down by event organizers.

Another issue that irked many audience members was whether or not illegal immigrants should receive coverage under a new system (no current bill provides that). Congressman Mike Castle (R-Del.) was the first to mention the subject, saying that illegal immigrants aren’t the American government’s responsibility.

August 31, 2009 at 11:30 pm

--Kenneth Elder

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