One word can best sum up Congressman David Scott’s (D-GA13) latest Health Care Reform town hall – Passion. Folks were passionate on both sides of the issue and the Congressman was equally passionate about why he supports President Obama’s health care reform initiatives.
Congressman Scott doesn’t get much love in Progressive circles because of his membership in the Blue Dog Coalition, but I have to give him mad props for holding a health care forum which allowed a true debate of the issues. Congressman Scott answered one-on-one questions for 3 straight hours. He didn’t take a break throughout the entire forum and answered over 65 questions. The questions ranged from specific health care issues, exemptions and pre-existing conditions, costs associated with the public option, a single payer plan, to National defense and the School of the Americas. Congressman Scott allowed folks to give testimonials (although the crowd did not like this) and to ask questions that were unrelated to health care. In every question and/or testimonial, Congressman Scott listened intently and thoroughly answered each question.
Although he had a panel of experts, Congressman Scott walked the floor and directly answered every question. The crowd asked some tough questions, someone even asked if he had a backbone to stand up to the health care lobbyists, but Congressman Scott strongly held his own.
From his opening statements, Congressman Scott tried to dispel the Republican fear rumors about the health care bill by making three points: no federal dollars can be used for abortions, there is no death panel – it is a voluntary decision to have doctors discuss end of life options, and the public option is not about the government taking over the private insurance enterprise.
Public Option
If President Obama and his team continue to waffle on the public option portion of the bill then I suggest the DCCC send Congressman Scott out on the circuit to talk about the importance of having a public option. Congressman Scott was pretty clear on why the bill must include a public option – because there are a lot of Americans who simply can’t afford private health care insurance.
Single Payer
There were a lot of single payer advocates in the crowd. Congressman Scott repeatedly said he wasn’t for a single payer health care system mainly because there aren’t enough votes in Congress to get the bill passed. The single payer advocates did not like his rationale.
The Crowd
All I can say is that Congressman Scott has a very diverse, lively, and animated constituent base. The crowd comments were the best. The forum rule was 90 seconds for each question. The crowd definitely let the questioners know when they went over their time limit. At times it was hysterical. They also let the questioners quickly know when they didn’t appreciate their questions. At times the forum felt like an Obama for President rally.
Lots of folks asked conspiracy related questions like health care being unconstitutional, it was a part of the government’s takeover, and private enterprise would fail. I found out that there were several ways to get Congressman Scott to speak passionately – say that his actions aren’t Christian or discount his patriotism. One lady suggested that Congressman Scott broke a federal law by saying a prayer before the meeting started in a public school. Well, let’s just say that Congressman Scott didn’t quite see it that way.
The gentleman in this clip didn’t quite understand that saying the United States was a fascist government would invoke Congressman Scott to bless him out.
On being a Blue Dog Coalition member
There has been a lot of media surrounding the Blue Dog Coalition’s attempted hijacking of the health care reform bill. At the forum, Congressman Scott best explained what the overall mission of the Blue Dog Coalition is – to bring down the deficit and to pay as you go (PAYGO). I think the crowd generally supported him being with the Blue Dog Coalition because he was forthright with his affiliation and laid out on several occasions that it was all about deficit trimming.
Interestingly enough, Congressman Scott also revealed that he is the only member of Congress who belongs to the Blue Dog Coalition, the Congressional Black Caucus, and the New Democrat coalition.
Medical Liability
My one disagreement with Congressman Scott is his views on including medical liability insurance reform into the health bill. Medical liability insurance is the new term for tort reform. I was with him on the PAYGO, on deficit reduction, but he lost me with his views on tort reform. Congressman Scott believes that one of the reasons why health care costs are high is because of expensive medical liability insurance that a doctor must purchase. He also claims that this insurance is the reason why doctors aren’t choosing to work as general practitioners. Congressman Scott freely admits that if the health care reform bill included a reform of the medical liability insurance more Republicans would support and vote for the bill. I disagree because tort reform hurts the victims of medical malpractice.
Overall, Congressman Scott had a very successful health care reform town hall. I’m not sure many folks were swayed any differently but their voices and concerns were heard. I think that is the purpose of these town hall meetings – to hear all opinions about reforming America’s health care system.
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