Andrée Seu Peterson on the "Time" cover 
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Democrats feel the healthcare heat
Things took a testy turn Sunday during a Philadelphia townhall meeting featuring Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., who fielded healthcare questions from a standing-room only crowd. The 400+ attendees cheered, jeered, and booed the pair as Sebelius and Specter attempted to sell the audience on the Obama administration’s push for universal health care. At one point the crowd exploded after Specter said that Congress has to make judgments on the bill “very fast”:
Sebelius and Specter also took heat as they attempted to sidestep the issue of whether abortion and assisted suicide will be part of the healthcare legislation:
“The legislation is not designed, and ought not to be designed, to deal with assisted suicide,” Specter said.
Sebelius agreed, when the issue was brought up a second time.
“Abortion and assisted suicide are not a part of the legislation,” she said. “It is not being discussed.”
But when the issue was rehashed yet again, for a third time, by an elderly woman who demanded that “it must be written in the bill that no money is given for abortion or assisted suicide,” Sebelius and Specter were more cautious with their answers.
“I can’t guarantee that will be part of the plan,” Sebelius said. “I’m not writing the bill.”
Specter said that the object of health-care reform is to give people a choice. He said that there may be health-care plans for those who want abortion coverage and those who don’t and that people will only pay into the plan of their choice.
The Politico reports that other Democratic leaders also faced angry citizens at townhall meetings over the weekend in Morrisville, Pa., and Austin, Texas–and it doesn’t look like the protests will ease up any time soon:
The insurance lobby has urged the public to turn out for town halls, as have members of the tea party movement and the group Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, which is providing a list of upcoming public events on its website–together with videos of events that have already been disrupted.
back to top18 Comments to “Democrats feel the healthcare heat”
Dude. I sure hope they get the message… It’s been quite plain for some months now.
Quit spending us into oblivion.
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Maybe just maybe people will wake up and realise that they don’t have to vote for Democrats.
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I get the message: The insurance lobby is afraid of something that might cut their profits.
Boo-hoo.
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I guess it doesn’t matter that the Town Hall disruptions are part of an organized effort by right-wing radicals, and not a real grassroots sentiment?
The leaked memo is entitled “Rocking the Town Halls — Best Practices.” It leads off with a bit of background:
“We here in Fairfield County, Connecticut, conducted an action at Congressman Jim Himes’s Town Hall meeting in May 2009. We believe there are some best practices which emerged from the event and our experience, which could be useful to activists in just about any district where their Congressperson has supported the socialist agenda of the Democrat leadership in Washington:
–”Spread out in the hall and try to be the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and followup. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority and, if not, a significant portion of at least the audience opposes the socialist agenda in Washington.”
–”You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep’s presentation. Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep’s statements early.”
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Any way you look at it the tsunami of angry Americans is coming.
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Steve G,
“not a real grassroots sentiment”
Let me assure you this is a REAL grassroots sentiment.
And for anyone on Medicare or close to being of that age, it’s very serious. The plan is to cut Medicare benefits to help pay for this new plan.
I haven’t been to any meetings. I haven’t been contacted by anyone about them, but I am dead set against this harmful plan.
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Republicans have abandoned debate entirely, opting instead for thuggery and intimidation.
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The only thugs I see are the Democrats beating me into submission by passing bill after bill without reading them, and in some instances not even writing them, before they vote. They learned their lessons well from the Provenzanos and the Madoffs.
But these tea parties are wonderful. Leave it to Dems, liberals, leftys and communists to hate democracy in action.
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I just watched video from about five of the disrupted town halls. The “protestors” seem to be majority old, white, angry and ignorant. I bet a thousand dollars that the majority of them detest the MSN and get most of their information from FOX. In one video a man in the audience stood to urge his congressman to support the house single payer bill, and he was shouted down and ordered to sit by some very angry looking old thugs, These people aren’t trying to exercise free speech, they’re trying to deny other their free speech.
These people have been organized, and in some cases bused in by, tea bagger organizers who are In the pocket of the healthcare industry. This movement is grass roots only in that the rubes who disrupt these town hall meeting seriously believe the disinformation fed to them by big insurance. It was after all, an insurance company executive that first suggested that “Obama care” would lead to the euthanasia of seniors. As we have seen, this lie has dutifully been picked up by members of both the house and senate, by fox news, and now, not surprisingly, by protestors at these town halls.
What’s Ironic is that I bet a bunch of them are on Medicare and like it just fine.
I know the insurance companies, conservative media, and the Republicans want to stop health insurance reform in the worst way, but if they don’t stop this incredible fear mongering and hatefulness toward everything that is the Democratic agenda, someone is going to get shoot. Glenn Beck last night begged Republican protestors not to get violent, but I’m sure that won’t stop the hate and fear mongering. For some the prospect of violent political decent is just the price of doing business.
In the long run, the image of the Republican Party and conservative Christianity will be stained by the images of old, angry, white people, fighting against the interests of their fellow citizens with lies and hooliganism. Good luck with that fools.
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Steve,
Your link doesn’t work.
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KWatson,
DON’T use that word. It’s ugly, obscene, and besides that it’s been banned from use on World Mag Blog.
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SteveG and KWatson – Rather than discuss the substance of the issue, you argue about the argument and attack the messengers.
In this video, the people asking questions are very calm and are asking very serious intelligent questions. Do you accept Specter’s answer that Congressmen should act quickly and not read bills before they vote on them? Should the crowd not be outraged at that ridiculous answer?
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#9 KWatson I know the insurance companies, conservative media, and the Republicans want to stop health insurance reform in the worst way,
That is patently untrue. Everyone acknowledges that our health care system is outrageously expensive. Employer provided HMOs are a scam that the nation is caught in, driving up costs because they are hidden and the market cannot work.
However, Obama is doing absolutely nothing to address cost or quality. He has made it clear that his primary goal is universal coverage. He wants to give free insurance to those who don’t have it. The plan is not about health or care. It is about politics, power and money.
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I have a hard time believing that, Xion. Remember 1994? The Republicans promised a better solution after “HillaryCare” was killed.
Clearly they did not deliver it.
I have every reason to believe we’re in the same situation again.
The initial question was fine, but I hear (and so does Kristin Chapman) cheering, jeering, and booing. At other town halls, protesters were completely disruptive, shouting down fellow citizens trying to ask questions and not letting their representatives talk long enough to answer.
Some protesters may have legitimate and intelligent questions, but others are simply stifling discussion with force. This isn’t the French Revolution. A free society cannot be maintained this way. Ask your question, then listen to the answer. If your representative dodges, you have every right to follow up persistently, but masses of people shouting others down helps nothing.
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Xion: #9 KWatson I know the insurance companies, conservative media, and the Republicans want to stop health insurance reform in the worst way,
That is patently untrue. Everyone acknowledges that our health care system is outrageously expensive. Employer provided HMOs are a scam that the nation is caught in, driving up costs because they are hidden and the market cannot work.
Yeah … and those HMOs make good profits, while costing employers comparatively little to offer … so explain to me how KWatson is wrong in saying that the insurance companies don’t want to change it?
The proof is that Obama proposes creating a competitive pool and ending the employer’s control over the plans available to employees — thereby ensuring you can get something better than the crummy HMO — and you all believe the disinformation and start shrieking about government takeover of health care.
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………………………………..ping goes the pin
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#14 JJF I don’t disagree with any of that. My point was that the questions are valid and the guffaws justified, though the crowd was being rude and unruly.
As for Republicans, they rarely accomplish anything. But on a scale where the government which governs least is best, no one governs less than a Republican.
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#15 I agree that HMOs are bad, but nothing in Obama’s plan addresses cost or quality. My comment to you and KWatson are that rather than addressing the issue, your M.O. is to delegitimize the argument itself or the messenger. My point was to stick to the subject.
Please explain to me how a government option which does not have to be profitable is somehow akin to competition. The government option can undercut any competitor because it isn’t a real business. Most people choose public schools because they are already paying for it. Only the rich choose to pay again for something better.
There will always be private options in America. Obama will never achieve his ultimate goal of a single payer system, because Americans won’t accept that. But supply and demand means eventually the government will control most health care and only the rich will have access to the private options.
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