Earlier today, September 2nd, Blue Dog Democratic Congressman Baron Hill of Indiana's 9th Congressional district (map here), held a town hall meeting in Bloomington, Indiana in a high school auditorium.
It was a lively event, with the Congressmen providing an excellent indictment of America's current system (he stated strongly that in Western Europe and Japan, nobody goes bankrupt from health care costs and that all of these nations are able to insure everyone at a lower per capita cost).
Afterward, there was MoveOn. org sponsored health care rally/vigil on the Bloomington courthouse square.
Baron Hill voted for the healthcare bill that came out of the House Energy and Commerce committee earlier this year, which contained a public option. During the townhall event, Hill conceded that there was a "50/50" chance that a final healthcare reform bill would contain a public option.
The crowd seemed to be split between conservatives (coughassholescough) and progressives in favor of reform to one degree or another. Most of the people that were able to ask questions favored reform and provided strong anecdotal evidence of how bad the current system is. A local ER doctor, who is a local progressive hero for his longstanding support of single payer healthcare, was called on by name to ask a question of the Congressman, and received a long standing ovation before speaking.
There were several stupid questions, by conservatives not surprisingly, including one gem by a teenager who inquired if the healthcare bill that passed the House Energy and Commerce committee would have the government dictating what people could and could not eat. Hill looked at the kid, replied tersely "No" and proceeded to select someone else to ask a question. It was classic. This kid was revealed to be a complete moron.
While the Congressman made many good points and a compelling case for reform, I was angered that he advertised in a flier that was handed out to everyone who attended that he worked with the Blue Dogs to make sure that public option's re-imbursement rates were not tied to Medicare's, so as to ensure that it would not have an "unfair" advantage over private insurers. God forbid the government offer a superior product! Although I believe this move was a tacit admission on the part of the Conservadems in the House that any robust public plan would perform FAR better than any private plan currently in existence.
Later, at 7:30 pm, there was a healthcare rally/vigil on the Bloomington courthouse square that was pretty well attended (70-80 people on a weeknight remember) where we held pro-reform signs, chanted "We can't afford to wait" and discussed personal health care horror stories with one another. The event was organized by MoveOn.org ( a great organization and I urge my fellow kossacks to join if they haven't already) and my father hosted the event.
Some conservative dickhead who attended the town hall event earlier filmed us. We all smiled and waved and invited to come join us. No luck there.
It was great to be able to participate in the health care debate and lend my time and energy to getting the best bill possible (which must include a STRONG public option) passed and signed into law.
Take care folks and have a nice evening.