Health care reform debated at Gordon town hall

MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer
Posted: Monday, August 24, 2009 10:57 pm

With lines stretching from the stage of Tucker Theatre to the lobby doors Monday night, more than 900 members of the 6th Congressional district voiced their concerns and hear Rep. Bart Gordon’s thoughts on health care reform.

“There is no final bill …” Gordon (D-Murfreesboro) said about the progress of health care reform in Washington, D.C. “ but if it came up today, I wouldn’t vote for it.”

Gordon said there are currently three different bills in the House – one each in the Energy and Commerce, Education and Labor, and Ways and Means committees – and two in the Senate.

“This is a process that has eight more steps and has a long way to go,” he said.

Gordon started out the town hall meeting by outlining his goals for national health care reform.















Foremost, Gordon said, he wants to lower costs for both individuals and smalls businesses, protect Medicare and for the final legislation to be deficit neutral.

He does not want to see a bill that forces enrollment in a public option, rations care, allows health coverage for illegal immigrants or bans care for pre-existing conditions.

Gordon’s outline met with overwhelming applause from the audience.

“I do wish there was more of an effort tonight about what we agree upon,” Gordon said afterward, referencing shouts from both sides when a controversial point was brought up.

And there were quite a few controversial points.

From the side against health care reform, questioners were overwhelmingly concerned with a move toward socialized medicine and using federal money to fund abortions, along with malpractice tort reform, rationing of care and the cost of the proposed bills.

On the topic of socialized medicine, Gordon said he doesn’t support a public option because it may led to a monopoly in the health insurance industry and a universal single-payer plan.

“I don’t think a single-payer plan is good for the economy,” he said, adding he’d like to learn more about health co-operatives like the Farm Bureau offers.

“I’m anxious to look at a co-op system like that,” Gordon said.

Susan Allen from White House, Tenn. Asked why he voted for an amendment that bans the use of Medicaid funds from funding abortions before he voted against it.

Gordon said he voted against the bill finally, because there is an existing law that ban the use of any federal money to fund abortions, unless the mother’s health is at risk or in cases of rape and incest.

From those in favor of reform, questions tended toward controlling cost and loss of coverage for pre-existing conditions.

“The 47 million who don’t have health care, we don’t want it for free,” Kelly Innskeep said. “We just want all the rights everyone else has.”

Innskeep explained she has no coverage because her husband lost his job and no private insurer will cover her because of pre-existing conditions.

Gordon said he understands her dilemma and hopes to control costs with co-ops, other measures to increase efficiency – like electronic medical records and direct deposit payments for doctors – and a ban on denials for pre-existing conditions.

“I want to take time, get it right or not get involved at all,” he said.

Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com.