STORY SUMMARY>>>
Hundreds of citizens attended a town hall meeting at McKinley High School Tuesday evening to discuss healthcare reform, an issue that has gripped the nation’s psyche for weeks now.
The public forum was sponsored by Honolulu City Councilman and republican candidate for the 1st Congressional District Charles Djou.
Many of those who showed up voiced their concerns about potential costs and how the government would manage a public option for health insurance.
“It's awful! It's disgusting,” said one opponent of H.R. 3200, the most controversial bill passed by the U.S. House Energy and Finance Committee last month.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the legislation would cost one trillion dollars the first ten years after its enactment and increase the federal deficit an additional $239 billion.
AARP representative Bruce Bottorff was jeered during his presentation by opponents of the bill. He said in order to help pay for the cost of a public option, Medicare and Medicaid would be forced to become more efficient.
“Healthcare reform would reduce the waste, fraud and abuse that's currently costing so much in Medicare,” Bottorff told Khon2, a line he repeated during his slideshow.
H.R. 3200 calls for taxing the rich and trimming $500 billion from Medicaid and Medicare in order to pay for a public option. A majority of those who attended the town hall were older folks concerned about how the federal government would pay for reform.
Dr. Malcolm Ing, a Honolulu ophthalmologist fears cutting costs for existing federal programs and adding a public option would lead to rationing already seen in Canada and the United Kingdom, two countries with universal healthcare.
"All universal health systems depend on rationing,” said Dr. Ing. “You cannot exist without rationing - rationing is a part of the deal.”
Dr. Linda Rasmussen, a local orthopedic surgeon and one of three panelist invited by Djou said in order to truly reform healthcare, tort reform must be part of the equation. None of the house bills addresses the issue.
"No one's controlling the malpractice costs,” said Rasmussen. “That’s a big deal.”
"Twenty percent of your health bill is because of the defensive medicine that the doctors in the United States are practicing in order to avoid being knocked with a suit,” added Ing.
Some in the crowd also expressed frustration that no member of Hawaii’s congressional delegation had held a similar public forum after the House passed key pieces of legislation out of committee.
"Our elected representatives didn't hold one meeting,” said one man, who was cheered loudly after his comment.
Bottorff said it remains to be seen what healthcare reform would look like since the U.S. Senate has yet to act and the full House has not voted on any proposal.
“Out of the Senate we have the very important Senate Finance Committee bill,” said Bottorff, “which nobody really knows what's in there yet.”
Any healthcare reform bill passed out of the Senate would have to be reconciled with the House version during conference committee.
Djou said the well attended town hall demonstrated there’s a strong desire among the public to debate the issue.
“It clearly shows there's a lot of concerns that Hawaii residents have about healthcare and healthcare reform,” said the councilman. “The problem is the cost - taxpayers don't have an unlimited amount of resources.”
Andrew may be reached at ph. 368-7273.
