After his Jan. 7 town hall meeting in the Michigan Tech Memorial Union Ballroom, U.S. Congressman Bart Stupak stays an extra hour to answer more questions, one-on-one, with constituents. Click on photos for larger versions. (Photos by Keweenaw Now)HOUGHTON -- Health care reform was the issue that dominated U.S. Congressman Bart Stupak's Jan. 7 town hall meeting in Houghton. The event attracted First District constituents from Menominee to Baraga to Copper Harbor, with standing room only in the Memorial Union Ballroom at Michigan Tech.
Both Michigan Tech University President Glenn Mroz and Sgt. Allan Hoffman of Michigan Tech Public Safety estimated the crowd at approximately 250, if not more.
"It's democracy in action," Mroz commented after Stupak's Power Point presentation on the health care crisis and question-answer session with the public. "I think Bart gave really good answers to some really tough questions. You really have to appreciate his forthrightness in answering the questions."
Standing room only remains as the town hall meeting with Bart Stupak begins with his Power Point presentation on health care reform. Standing in the back, fourth from left, is Michigan Tech President Glenn Mroz.Stupak reprimanded some audience members only once for talking while he was trying to answer someone's question. Otherwise the audience was quite civil as opposing points of view were expressed. Several Michigan Tech Public Safety personnel were on duty in the Ballroom.
First, Stupak pointed out he had held several telephone town meetings during the past year in an effort to keep in touch with constituents in the 31 counties of his First District, which is half the size of the State of Michigan.* (link to map below)
"We're always looking for different ways to reach out and inform people, keep individuals involved," Stupak said. "Interest is great on what's going on in this country."
He noted his office answered about 50,000 letters or emails in 2008, an election year, and estimated close to 90,000 in 2009 -- nearly a 50 percent increase. Stupak added his town hall meeting in Ontonagon Jan. 6 attracted at least 250 people and the meeting Jan. 5 in Ironwood about 150.
Stupak noted the Democratic Congress has been tackling several issues since President Obama came into office -- including a bill, now signed into law, to assure equal pay for equal work for women; expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Program; the economic stimulus package (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act); loans to GM and Chrysler.
"A lot of what we've done has gone to the Senate, and we're still waiting for the Senate to act," he added. "One of the biggest bills we've ever done is health care."
In his Power Point presentation, Stupak gave an overview of the health care reform bills introduced in the House of Representatives in 2009 and compared and contrasted the latest House bill with the Senate bill that reached a vote late in December.
Preceding the question-answer session at the town hall meeting in Houghton, Stupak presents an overview of health care reform in a Power Point presentation."No matter what part of the economy you look at, health care is a big part of it," Stupak said. "It's probably the one bill I've ever worked on that affects every one of us."
The goal of health care reform is "quality, affordable, accessible health care for all Americans," he explained.
Stupak reminded the audience that he is Chairman of Oversight and Investigations for the House Energy and Commerce Committee and is beginning his fourth year of investigating the insurance industry. He pointed out several examples of how health insurance companies deny coverage, such as rescission, dropping persons from a plan with no chance for appeal, often causing people to die for lack of insurance or to go bankrupt.
Stupak explained he voted against the House Bill in July (HR 3200) since it was incomplete. He believed the bill did not do enough to control rising health care costs, was built on a system that rewards quantity rather than quality, did not do enough to encourage competition and did not answer his concerns about public funding for abortion. By November, he did vote for HR 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act.
HR 3962 does the following: creates a health insurance exchange allowing individuals and businesses to purchase a plan they prefer; requires each plan to have an essential benefits package; eliminates lifetime cap on benefits; prohibits all plans from discriminating on the basis of pre-existing conditions; prohibits insurance companies from rescinding policies except in the case of fraud (including a third-party appeal system); eliminates a lifetime cap on benefits; limits out-of-pocket expenses; offers a voluntary public option; offers tax credits to small businesses. The bill also helps seniors avoid the Medicare donut hole (limit on drug coverage) and helps families avoid bankruptcy due to unaffordable medical costs; health care providers are compensated for previously uncompensated care; more coverage is provided for preventive services under Medicare (which would extend solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund for at least five years, Stupak said).
Stupak dispelled myths about death panels,(not allowed); insurance for illegal immigrants (not allowed). An income deduction of 2.5 percent would be applied to those refusing to purchase health insurance, but no one would go to jail for refusing to purchase health insurance. He noted inequities in spending on Medicare (e.g., $16,000 paid to an individual in Miami as opposed to $6100 paid for a patient in Marquette) would be changed with an emphasis on quality rather than quantity. Veterans' programs would not be affected by the bill, though veterans could choose a different plan if they wished.
Anti-abortion amendment sparks controversy
Stupak explained that, although he originally hoped to keep abortion out of the bill, he proposed the anti-abortion amendment for the present House health care reform bill in opposition to an amendment proposed by Congresswoman Lois Capps of California. The Capps amendment required that at least one plan in the new health insurance exchange provide abortion coverage; it required a minimum monthly charge from every enrollee in the public option to be allocated for reproductive services, including abortion; and it allowed individuals receiving federal subsidies to purchase health insurance plans that cover abortion.
The Capps amendment, according to Stupak, would change the present law (the Hyde amendment of 1976, 1977, that prohibits using federal funds for abortion, with exceptions for rape,incest and the life of the mother). When the Capps amendment passed last summer, Stupak proposed his amendment, which he insisted upholds the present law. It finally passed in November (240-194).
"The only reason why we passed health care in the House is because pro-Life Democrats voted for it," Stupak said. "It doesn't take away your right to choose. All it says is the federal government is not going to pay for abortions."
Stupak then outlined differences between the House bill (HR3962) and the Senate bill voted in December.
House bill covers 36 million uninsured while the Senate bill covers 31 million. The House bill would go into effect in January 2013, the Senate bill not until January 2014. Unlike the House bill, the Senate bill does not close the donut hole for seniors or include a public option. Instead, the Senate bill creates two insurance plans contracted by the Office of Personnel Management. Only the House bill takes away the anti-trust exemption for insurance companies.
"The insurance industry and major league baseball are the only industries left in this country not subject to anti-trust laws," Stupak noted. "If they want to raise their rates as they have on individual policies this past year in Michigan 20-40 percent, there's nothing we can do about it."
While the House bill would help pay for health care by imposing a surtax on people with incomes above $500,000, the Senate bill would impose a surtax on individual high-premium insurance plans.
The Senate "has basically the Capps amendment" on abortion, while the House has the Stupak amendment, he said.** (See below for links to recent New York Times articles.)
Still, the Senate and House hope to agree on a final health care bill by the end of January or early February 2010.
Stupak fields hard questions
Some questions from the audience challenged Stupak's position on government funding of abortion, while others challenged the whole idea of government reform of health care with any cost at all to individuals. Others thanked him for coming and seemed supportive of his positions.
Stupak answers constituents' questions on health care reform during the Jan. 7 town hall meeting at Michigan Tech.To the question "How can we use our influence to get the Senate to include a public option?" Stupak admitted he wasn't sure and changed the subject to other problems with the Senate bill, such as sweetheart deals for certain states like Nebraska.**
On abortion, one person questioned his rationale for wanting to change the current system but keep the current law that prevents federal funding for abortion? Why single out that one practice as one not to be changed? Why should one thing be changed and not another?
"Only 18 percent of all abortions are covered under health insurance," Stupak replied. "We're put in the position where we have to choose what benefits we're going to fund and not fund under health care."
He noted in polls conducted after the Stupak amendment 61 percent of Americans said they didn't want public funding for abortion. He added 24 of the 64 Democrats who voted with him were pro-choice Democrats who didn't want federal funds to pay for abortions.
A person who admitted being opposed to government health care reform asked Stupak, "If there's funding for abortion (in the final bill) will you pledge to vote no?"
Noting his record is clear on right-to-life issues, Stupak said, "I probably will not vote for it ... I don't sign pledges."
Bob Darling of Chassell said he was grateful to the federal government for veterans' health services that saved his brother's life and wondered why Stupak, because of his anti-abortion stance, would sacrifice health care reform that could save the lives of 45,000 people who die each year because of inadequate coverage.
"Doesn't that demonstrate a bit of hypocrisy when right to life seems to end at birth?" Darling asked.
Stupak noted a Labor HHS appropriation bill (signed Dec. 16) and Children's Health Insurance bill last February were both signed with language on abortion similar to the Stupak amendment.
Stupak seemed confident the House and Senate would eventually agree on a health reform bill.
"I think at the end of the day we can work this out," he said.
A young woman concerned about keeping her present health plan protested being taxed for Medicare and Social Security since she doesn't feel it will be there when she needs it. Some people in the audience applauded her comments.
Stupak said the future of Medicare and Social Security could be secured if all income were taxed rather than the present system that caps the tax on income above $94,000 or so.
Following the question-answer session, Stupak stayed an extra hour to speak with individuals who had more questions and comments.
Constituents of all ages stayed after the town hall meeting to speak personally with Congressman Stupak.Audience reactions
Chris Bryan of Baraga County commented on the attitudes of people opposed to health care reform.
"I think people who are against it are afraid they're not going to get their share of the pie," Bryan said. "I think they're afraid they're going to lose something they figure they're entitled to. I don't think they want to share their piece of the pie."
Tom Gemignani of Hancock said he thought Stupak did a good job of answering questions.
"It's a tough thing to tackle, but I think he's right. We need it," Gemignani said. "Everybody's going to have to contribute."
A young man who works for Michigan Community Action and sees people in need every day agreed.
"I think that health care reform should be for everybody," he said. "Everybody's going to be covered. Everybody has to make certain sacrifices."
Jim Borowski of Menominee, CEO for Goodwill Industries for Upper Michigan and Northern Wisconsin, said he often sees homeless people with severe medical and mental problems that get worse as they go untreated.
"If they're not treated, they end up hospitalized (eventually under Medicare), a cost to the government," he said.
Melanie Jasper of Carney, Mich., who also works for Goodwill, emphasized the need for mental health coverage, especially since these problems often require expensive drugs.
"It's treatable," Jasper said. "You can't really separate the mind from the body."
Michigan Tech student John Pastore also agreed on the need for health care reform.
"I want to thank (Stupak)," Pastore said. "I've got friends who are sick and are liable to be destroyed financially before dying if something like this doesn't come along. It's really awkward when one of your friends tells you, 'I can't afford the diagnostics to find out what's wrong with me.'"
Naomi Leukuma of Chassell had a different viewpoint and spoke to Stupak after the meeting.
"I expressed my concern of reaching into somebody's pocket and taking out money and giving it to somebody else. I call it stealing. Politicians call it redistribution of wealth," Leukuma said. "How's it going to get paid for?"
Leukuma said she didn't think Stupak answered people's questions.
Cindy Barth of Dollar Bay, who recently returned from New Zealand, said her experience there is the reason she is not for health care reform here. She described long waiting lines to see a specialist and family members and friends who had problems getting care for serious illness.
"I lived under socialized medicine for the last 19 years in New Zealand," Barth said. "It rations care. I'd get close to the six-month waiting list and I'd get bumped again. It's not great. I don't want America to go the socialized medicine way of New Zealand."***
Donna Des-Jardin of Lake Linden was positive about Stupak's presentation.
"I implicitly trust the individual who gave the presentation on health care," she said. "He made me feel confident that he reads all bills, amendments, etc., completely and really passionately applies all that he is to the vote."
Janet Hayden, Michigan Tech director of Risk Management, said she thought the turnout at the town hall meeting was very good. She commented positively on Stupak's Power Point presentation.
"I thought there was a lot to absorb, but I also thought there was a lot of information," Hayden said, "and, since it's a compicated issue, that it was helpful."
Editor's Notes:
*Click here for a map of Michigan's First District.
**See a Jan. 6, 2010, article on Bart Stupak and his anti-abortion views in The New York Times. A Jan. 8, 2010, New York Times article on the Senate bill may also be of interest.
***Cindy Barth said she would be willing to correspond with readers who may have questions about health care in New Zealand. Email the editor at andersm@pasty.com if you wish her email address.
This is the fifth in our series of articles on the health care reform issue. See also our Sept. 10, 2009, article on the Labor Day "Tea Party" rally in Houghton. We welcome your comments!
