Participants’ tone ranged from supportive to unabashedly critical during United States Rep. Ben Ray Lujan’s (D-NM) Sept. 8 telephone town hall event on health care reform.
But one question surfaced over and again: “How will this bill help me?”
A woman who only gave her name as Doreen, of Tierra Amarilla, phrased that question most specifically. Her daughter is unemployed and diabetic.
“Will this help her?” she asked of the reform proposals currently before the United State Congress.
Lujan answered Doreen with a “maybe.” The bill may not offer free, full health care for her daughter. But depending on her income, she may qualify for subsidized insurance, Lujan said. And the bill would ban insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, he said.
The House and Senate have both drafted bills to overhaul health care, and the Senate Finance Committee is expected to produce a final bill this fall. About 2,100 constituents called in to Lujan’s event, spokesman Mark Nicastre said.
Most callers opposed to the reform asked how the government will finance it — a question the Senate bill is expected to answer. Others said lawmakers should instead focus on reducing health care costs by curbing medical malpractice.
However, most callers were to some extent supportive of reforms, and many called for more radical change.
“We already compromised in our hope for single payer,” Benny Adams, of Clovis, said. “The least we should expect is a public option. Please do all you can.”