News Home

Statesville R&L

By Jim McNally

Last August, when the national health care issue was percolating, Congress members from around the country held town hall meetings.

So many town halls were held, in fact, that the meetings themselves grabbed the headlines and dominated the airwaves for a time.

U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx chose then not to hold any meetings and instead co-hosted a telephone town hall with Tennessee Rep. Phil Roe, who is also a physician.

But with the topic having spent a year at or near the top of most news cycles, and with votes on the historic health care reform bill slated to be held within the week, Foxx hosted her first actual town hall on the matter Monday at the Statesville Civic Center.

About 100 people attended the 90-minute gathering — which Foxx called "a health care solutions town hall" — and the 5th District congresswoman fielded questions or comments from 17 of them.

Foxx stated in her opening comments that there is a "need to reform health care." She said, however, that the bills offered by both chambers of Congress are not the way to go about it.

Instead, Foxx said, many of the problems with the current health care system could be alleviated if Congress addressed things like: "frivolous," medical-related, lawsuits; removing bans on interstate insurance purchases; and allowing for the joining of insurance "pools," which would offer group rate discounts.

Foxx later said that frivolous lawsuits and physicians' ever-increasing medical malpractice coverage account for 30 to 40 percent of increases in health insurance products over the past several years.

Most of those who spoke at the meeting agreed with Foxx regarding the bills being proposed in Congress.

Daniel Gamble said he recently lost his job and was told that it would cost $1,400 per month to maintain health insurance through COBRA (the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act), a law that allows for former workers to maintain coverage under their work-provided health plans.

Gamble added that he was able to find insurance at a slightly better rate, but he still referred to the Congressional health plan as a "monster" that he thought the Senate was trying to finagle through via a legislative procedure known as reconciliation.

Bill Tucker said he is "for health care reform, but I'm not for this bill."

He then alluded to an often-repeated quote by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in which she said that Congress has to first pass the health care bill "so you can see what's in it, away from the fog of controversy."

Tucker added, "I'm sorry, but that don't work for me."

It doesn't work for Charles Carter either.

"I'd like to see those 2,700 pages thrown in the trash can," said Carter, an Iredell County farmer who said he has had several medical procedures. "And I just wish they'd leave our health care as it is."

As mentioned, Foxx is not an advocate of leaving health care alone. But in responding to Carter she praised the status quo.

Sort of.

"Our health care system is not perfect. Our health insurance system is not perfect, But it is still the best in the world," Foxx said to fervent applauds.

Terry Gentle looked at both sides of the issue.

"If this bill is so wonderful, why don't they put it out there in plain language for everyone to read?" he said. "But it's so bad, why are all the health insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies fighting, with their lobbyists, to get it stopped?"

Gentle added, "We might be able to fix health care if we take care of all the greed and corruption at the top."

Foxx said she had not been approached by a single lobbyist seeking her "nay" vote on the matter.

Indeed, Foxx said, the insurance companies would likely benefit by the passing of the bill because it would serve to legitimize and justify premium hikes.

Several times during the meeting Foxx said some type of reform is needed in the health care industry. She spoke once about her impoverished childhood in western North Carolina.

"You probably don't know anyone as poor as I was. We had no electricity, no running water," Foxx said, and told of severe asthma and hay fever she suffered from. "These things required a lot of health care, but as poor as we were, my family could afford it. Now, even some wealthy people are having a hard time with health care."

Foxx, who flew back to Washington right after the meeting, said she would take the ideas she heard Monday back to the nation's capital. A vote on the bill should come this week.

But Foxx's press secretary, Aaron Groen, said it was still a tentative situation.

"I've never seen quite the run-up for any legislation like I've seen on this," Groen said. "An up or down vote could happen, but we've heard that before. I don't want to say for sure that this is the final end-game."