March 29th, 2010

U.S. Rep. Sestak held a town hall style meeting to discuss reform.  Reports the Philadelphia Inquirer:

It was occasionally testy, but never nasty, and the crowd was generally polite as U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak (D. Pa.) fielded questions about the new health-care overhaul at a Frankford church yesterday.

In what was billed as the first “town hall” gathering since President Obama signed the health-care legislation, about 200 members of the predominantly African American Baptist Worship Center stayed after Palm Sunday services to hear from Sestak and voice their concerns.

Unlike town halls around the nation last summer, where members of Congress were shouted down, this was a mild-mannered crowd. There were no boos, no rancor, and no waving placards among the several dozen supporters and opponents of the health-care changes who lined up at microphones for nearly two hours.

An Aston woman, Lisa Esler, from Sestak’s Seventh District in Delaware County, wanted to know: “How do you expect us to pay for this unfunded mandate when we can’t even afford what we have now in this state?” she asked.

“And where are the taxes going to come from? Everybody’s pocket,” said Esler, a member of Delaware County Patriots, an affiliated tea party group.

Esler wondered aloud why Sestak chose to defend his vote in Philadelphia instead of his own suburban district, where there is not as much support for the new health insurance law.

Sestak, a former Navy admiral who is running in the primary against U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.), said later that he would be having “plenty” of town halls in his district and “other places in Pennsylvania.”

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Over in Adams County, U.S. Rep. Platts discussed reform with business leaders, reports the Gettysburg Times:

U.S. Rep. Todd Platts, R-19, and Adams County Commissioner Glenn Snyder were among the five local legislators who addressed Gettysburg Adams Chamber of Commerce members Friday.

Platts told more than 100 area business leaders at the 1863 Inn of Gettysburg the just-passed federal health care reform law represents a “more and more government run (and) managed system.”

“The only bipartisanship was in opposition,” he said, referring to more than 30 Democrats who also opposed the law, which was overwhelmingly supported by 219 Democratic caucus members.

“We voted No,” he said of himself and his fellow Republicans.

Platts said there is broad consensus in Washington, D.C., that the nation’s health care system must be fixed, but “I think the more we empower you, the patient, to make those decisions the better off we will be.”

The Democrats’ solution, he said, placed the government in a position to decide what coverages insurance companies would offer, and directed a large segment of the population to buy medical insurance against their wishes. In the end, he said, the health care reform would not lower the cost of health care — one of the initial state goals of reform supporters.

He repeated his often stated support for group health plans that would cross state lines and allow coalitions such as real estate brokers, church administrators, secretaries and physicians to obtain lower cost insurance for their members.

“We already do it for corporations and labor unions,” he said.

Responding to Gerry Michaels, of the Adams County SPCA, Platts said the new law likely would not force the agency to provide health benefits since it has fewer than 50 employees.

“But what it (insurance coverage) has to include will be up to Washington,” he said, later explaining that decisions would be left to appointed bureaucrats, whose authority would be granted by law and could not be overridden by presidential Executive Order.

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