Kudos to the Burlington Hawkeye for its excellent coverage of the town hall meeting Saturday on health care, held in Burlington with District 2 Democratic Congressman, Dave Loebsack. How refreshing to read a balanced, calm, factual report of the issues regarding health care reform legislation. This is why we need newspapers not to go away.
TheHawkeye.com
WEST BURLINGTON - Cooler heads prevailed.
Iowa's first-in-the nation status means its residents are used to fiery debates - even among like-minded neighbors - and therefore keep relatively calm in arguments.
During a town hall meeting on health care reform Saturday afternoon, Iowans showed those true colors by keeping the debate civilized and showing respect for U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Mount Vernon, despite the disagreements.
"This is the fourth town hall like this that I've done today," Loebsack said at the outset of the meeting Saturday.
"If I look a little tired, it might be because I'm a little bit tired."
Without much effort, the room kept civil, and the method of choosing questions at random out of a basket ensured no bias in selecting who got to speak.
Sure, there were hoots and hollers when some claimed the House of Representatives' health reform bill is a slippery slope to socialism; just as there was clapping when a few pointed out Loebsack was elected to fix a broken system.
And while not everyone's questions were asked and answered, Loebsack said he will continue to travel the district doing health care town halls throughout the August recess.
"I want to hear from you, too," Loebsack said. "Health care seems to be the defining issue of the day, and it is a matter of life and death."
The two biggest frustrations of the day came at the beginning and near the end of the meeting at Southeastern Community College.
Without enough space to go around, some people had to stand for the hourlong meeting, or left early, and toward the end there was a heated exchange about whether the American Medical Association had endorsed the House committee-passed legislation.
Despite those who argued with the congressman, AMA President J. James Rohack has done all but use the word "endorse" to show support for the legislation.
"After thorough review of H.R. 3200 (America's Affordable Healthy Choices Act of 2009), the AMA announced its support for health reform legislation released by the three committees of the U.S. House of Representatives,"Rohack said in a mid-July video message.
Like the congressman during the town hall, Rohack assured there is plenty of time to make changes to the bill to make it better. While Rohack -- and many at the West Burlington town hall --stressed medical liability reform, Loebsack said he would continue to work to make the Medicare reimbursement rates more equitable for Iowa, and other Midwestern states.
While he voted for the bill in the House Education and Labor Committee, Loebsack argued he would wait to see what happens with Medicare reimbursement, among other provisions, before voting in favor of the final bill.
Rather than shrink away from the issue, Loebsack gladly answered the couple of audience members who made comparisons to socialism.
He explained the system is designed to offer more choices, not less, and expand health insurance to 47 million more people, while not allowing insurance companies to drop people who get sick or because of pre-existing conditions.
"There are a lot of rumors on things going on, on both sides of the issue," Loebsack said. "You'll be able to choose from 14, 15, 12 private insurance plans, and the government insurance plan ... What we're trying to do here, folks, is to provide more choices than you have now."
The answer caused some people to say the system will continue to change because the government's goal is to get all people on the public plan. Loebsack countered that by saying the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected just 11 million people will be on the government-run system in a decade. A separate independent study, which estimated the cost savings to be higher with the government plan, shows the number will be closer to 60 percent of insured people now, or 130 million.
He also touted the capitalistic system, which caused some of the audience to murmur about not changing the current system.
Taking on a veiled attempt to ask about the "death panels," Loebsack debunked the myth by saying it's simply voluntary end-of-life counseling. Many from the audience disagreed about what's in the House legislation - which Loebsack and much of the audience claimed to have read - though the congressman stood his ground and said firmly he disagreed with Iowa's Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who helped get it removed from the Finance Committee's version of the bill.
According to two House bills that touch on the subject of "advance care planning consultation," some items will be left up to the Health and Human Services secretary to determine. However, for the most part, the provision only gives doctors the ability to discuss living wills, health care proxies, power of attorney and orders of life-sustaining treatment, all of which will be up to the individual but standardized by states.
Clearing up other rumors, Loebsack said no federal dollars will be directed toward abortion; those who opt out of insurance will have to pay a penalty; and the CBO has many different cost studies completed, some of which say costs are lowered and some that don't.
The only question Loebsack couldn't answer, but promised to look into and continue to ponder, is how the United States will remain competitive internationally, when so many foreign nations can offer cheaper prices because health care costs aren't a factor.
While paying for the reform is still somewhat of an unknown, Loebsack said there likely will be a tax on people who make more than $285,000 as individuals or $350,000 as families. While that caused booing from some audience members, Loebsack said that represents just 0.8 percent of Iowans.
"Keep in mind, this is all up for grabs," Loebsack said. "This is why I'm talking to you folks."
The woman who asked the question, a health care employee, wondered how costs are going to be contained by including 47 million more people.
"Everyone now is paying for everyone's health care," Loebsack said. "When someone goes to the emergency room and doesn't have insurance, somebody's paying for it. The idea is that we're kind of all in this together."
Another health care reform supporter in the audience put it in more human terms.
"I think there's a two-tier system in the United States as it is," she said. "There are people who are blessed with health insurance, and I hope all of the people in this room and their families are. But we know there are people who are not.
"We should be compassionate to those people ... be mindful of them and know that they are part of the United States as well."
Submitted to Blog for Iowa by Kate Cowles
Yesterday, we stopped by the IDP Booth at the Iowa State Fair and found Kerry Bowen, Polk County Central Committee Representative, and Greg Hauenstein, Director of New Media at the IDP, holding down the fort. 
