Monday night's event in Richardson, Texas was advertised by some media as a forum, and by others as a town hall meeting. Had I not been predisposed by these terms, I would have sworn it was a freakin' rally.
The rally was hosted by four Republican U.S. Congressmen:
- "Smokey" Joe Barton - TX 6th
- Jeb Hensarling - TX 5th
- Sam Johnson - TX 3rd
- Pete Sessions - TX 32nd
All of these guys are ultra-conservative, so, as one might expect, this so-called "forum" was entirely one-sided. Care to hear more? Please know that this is painful and I'd really prefer not to re-live it, but I promised, so, thumb and forefinger firmly clamped upon my nostrils, here goes...
This event took place in a suburb to the North of Dallas, where we Democrats are heavily outnumbered. I diaried over the weekend regarding the location, convenient to large offices of Blue Cross and UnitedHealth. Both companies were well-represented, but not to the extent I had anticipated. There were only about 2,000 seats available, and several hundred people were turned away. I got there at 4:30, the doors opened at 5:00, and the show started at 7:00.
As I quietly waited in line outside, I was nervous that the loons nearby would see my tongue bleeding as I held it in my teeth with a vice-like grip. The conversations around me ranged from socialism to Hannity to Beck to the upcoming 9/12 "March on Washington," but I'm happy to report that I did not hear any talk of secession. I guess all those folks were still in Austin.
There was, of course, a guy walking around for tea-bagger sign-up. That lady in the background with the "Healthcare" shirt...yeah, she's on Medicare, and her shirt basically indicates that health care reform would be the equivalent of a lethal injection. She was lovely, and had all sorts of interesting things to say, none worth repeating.
I did run into a few fellow Democrats, one dressed in a flag shirt decorated with "asses," as the lady sitting next to me referred to them. Not exactly my type of fashion statement, but hey, I was happy to see someone with an ass on her shirt, as opposed to the many others asses on display in that auditorium.
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There were even a few supportive signs, including a Teddy tribute:
Strangely, I did not see any signs supporting the other side. I chalked it up to illiteracy.
As we entered, we were given blue cards on which to write down a question. I did so, and put it in the brown bag with the others. My question was how we're going to reduce the uninsured rate in Texas, without federal health care reforms. I'll save you the suspense - it didn't get answered.
I sat for 2 hours in that auditorium next to a lady with a piercing voice, who droned on and on about how we should not pay for health care for illegal immigrants. I also listened to a 20-something explain how the welfare of others is "not his problem" and he should not be robbed by the government to pay for someone else's health care. Oh, yes, he was a real gem. I quickly realized that there was no reasoning with these people, but fortunately, I had a few allies nearby.
After the boy scouts presented the colors and we all recited the Pledge of Allegiance (yes, to the American flag), the National Anthem was performed, and the rally, er, "meeting" commenced.
The "moderator" (i.e., emcee) was Dr. John Goodman, President and CEO of the National Center for Policy Analysis. He informed us that we would not be provided an opportunity to speak, but our questions would be read from the blue cards.
Each Congressman made a brief statement. Their collective message was pretty much that the Democratic plans will break our budget for years into the future, will raise costs for all of us and future generations, will limit access to care, and will not address quality issues. Yadda, yadda, yadda.
They referred several times to the flowchart pictured here. Maybe it's just me, but I was amused by the arrows pointing to "IRS." Heh. Could these guys possibly be any more pathetically transparent in their propaganda?
Industry representatives were as follows:
- Eddie McBride, President, Lubbock Chamber of Commerce. He spoke of a health plan available to members of the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce and their employees. There are four options from which to choose, but the employer selects the option.
- Christopher Crow, MD, Village Health Partners, Plano, TX. Dr. Crow discussed their family medical practice, also in suburbia, which is open to insured and Medicare patients, but not to Medicaid patients. Primary care physicians and specialists are all at one location, patients are seen the same day that they call (for acute needs), and can schedule all their routine tests in one day for preventive care.
- Joel Allison, President and CEO, Baylor Health Care System. Baylor has been at or near the top of national lists for quality and patient satisfaction for the last several years. Allison addressed various topics, but his pet was definitely the need to continue physician-owned facilities and joint ventures, which he said would be phased out under the Democratic reform proposals.
- The Honorable Glen Whitley of Tarrant County (i.e., Fort Worth), First Vice President of the National Association of Counties. His Honor discussed prescription drug card plans offered by counties throughout the country.
I'm sure you can Google some of these things for more information, but I'm not willing to spend a lot of space going into details, because, bottom line, they are incremental, and not even making a dent in the problems in this country or in this state. Here Texas sits with the highest uninsured rate in the nation, more than 25%. The efforts above add up to chump change. We need comprehensive reform, and we need it NOW!
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The event actually went fairly smoothly. There were some uproars of applause here and there, as one would expect at a rally, and there were occasional outburts (only one from yours truly, I'm proud to say), but nothing exciting.
The Congressmen posed some gratuitous questions to the industry panel. Then, the emcee read questions from the constituents' blue cards, carefully phrasing each in the most leading way possible. There were few surprises, and mostly regurgitations of the opening statements, with some extra jabs, such as the outright statement that a public option would result in all existing insurance plans being gone within 7 years. (Seriously, did I hear that correctly???) Smokey actually went on to praise Medicare, but Johnson chimed in that it should be optional. He said that, following a conversation with Ross Perot, he had proposed a Medicare opt-out, but he was shot down by the evil Democrats who want to take over the world. (I'm paraphrasing of course, but you get the gist.) If 3 percent of Medicare enrollees would opt-out, we'd save, like, billions of dollars per year. Oh, and Democrats have also been blocking attempts to get Republican health care proposals scored by the CBO. Can I have have some government cheese with that whine?
Just for good measure, in case there was anyone not yet terrified by the evil Democratic plan, the Judge threw in that the proposed cuts to Medicare Disproportionate Share payments would result in county hospitals having to close their doors. Well, thank you, Chicken Little, for that enlightening tidbit. Let's just go right ahead and completely disregard the fact that county hospitals would see a brand new inflow of funds from previously uninsured patients, thanks to the public option.
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I do not have video, but if I run across some, I'll post it. Feel free to do the same in the comments. Better yet, if you were in attendance, and saw this as more than I've portrayed it to be, I'd love to see additional diaries on it. I had planned to have a lot more to report, but this turned out to be almost a complete waste of time. I do take comfort in the fact that I took up a seat, so one more Glenn Beck fan could get turned away.
As I exited, I gave some comments to someone with a TV camera, but I was so disgusted by this whole "forum" that I didn't even stick around to find out whom she was representing. I expressed my disappointment at the one-sidedness and absence of dissenting viewpoints. In case you see this video, I was wearing a multi-colored silk blouse and a charcoal jacket, and probably looked like I had just taken a beating. After all, I had.
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You can read The Dallas Morning News' perspective here.