WACO (August 20, 2009)—Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, held a telephone town hall meeting Thursday evening during which he answered questions about the controversial health care reform proposal now before the U.S. House.

Calls were placed by an automated service to 200,000 homes across the 17th Congressional District inviting residents to join the conversation.

About 20,000 residents accepted the invitation, although fewer than 20 actually were able to ask questions during the call.

About 700 others left voice messages.

About a dozen callers to KWTX and KBTX in Bryan complained that they accepted the invitation to participate and then waited by the phone Thursday evening for a call that they said came late and told them only that the meeting was in progress and that they had missed the chance to join it.

During the 90-minute call, Edwards fielded questions from residents concerned about a range of issues including rationing, Medicare, personal choice, provisions for illegal aliens and the impact of the bill on senior citizens, families, small businesses and single mothers.

Early in the call, he strongly refuted claims that the bill included a provision for a so-called death panel and said those who say it does are terrorizing older Americans for political purposes.

He said several times during the meeting that he has not yet decided how he will vote on the bill and that he won’t until he has reviewed the measure and its potential impact in detail.

While he said it’s clear that steps must be taken to contain costs and provide health insurance coverage to those who don’t have it, he said he does not want a Canadian-style socialized health care system.

A one-size-fits-all system would not work in this country, he said.

He said the bill he supports must allow those who want to continue their present private insurance coverage to do so and to allow Americans to continue to choose their doctors.

He said the bill must maintain the quality of the current public-private health care partnership while effectively reducing cost increases that are putting “a real burden on families and small businesses.”

And he said the bill must be paid for and not increase the federal deficit.

He said he has found nothing in the measure that would ration health care, and pointed out there is rationing in the current system that comes in the form of denial of coverage or benefits to those with preexisting conditions.

In the 12-county district, Edwards said, 140,000 people are now uninsured and statewide, the number ranges from 4.5 million to 6 million.

He said insured Texans pay an $1,800-a-year “hidden tax” in the form of higher premiums to offset the cost of providing care to the uninsured.

Edwards said there are five key principles in the bill now before the U.S. House:

1) Health Insurance Reform

The bill would bar insurance companies from denying coverage for those with preexisting conditions and from charging exorbitant rates to those with preexisting conditions. It would ensure that those who lose their jobs can continue their coverage through an insurance exchange that would also allow small businesses and individuals to obtain coverage at competitive rates, as large businesses are able to do now. The bill would bar insurance companies from penalizing small businesses because a few employees had major illnesses or serious injuries. And the bill would prohibit annual and lifetime caps.

2) Personal responsibility

All Americans would be required to buy health care insurance, much as they’re required now to buy automobile insurance in order to buy and license a car. Tax credits would be provided to low and middle income families.

3) Employer responsibility

All businesses would be required to provide health care insurance with exemptions for companies with payrolls less than $500,000 a year .
Companies with 25 or fewer employees would receive subsidies of as much as 50 percent.

4) Cost Containment

If we do nothing, Edwards said, by 2016, Texas families will pay $24,000 a year for health insurance, which is 51 percent of the average family income in the state. Cost containment measures in the bill include a push away from emergency room care and toward primary care physicians; an emphasis on preventive care including such things as mammograms and colonoscopies; A reduction of what Edwards said is an $1,800-a-year “hidden tax” that insured Texans pay in the form of higher premiums to offset the cost of care to those without insurance; drug company concessions to drop Medicare Part B drug expenses by 50 percent; more Medicare insight, and insurance reforms.

5) Budget neutrality

The reforms would be paid for without increasing the federal deficit. Half of the cost would be paid by cost savings, Edwards said, and the other half by a health tax surcharge on Americans with incomes of more than $350,000 a year. Edwards said the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office concluded the bill would create a $7 billion surplus over 10 years.

Edwards plans face-to-face town hall meetings in Brazos, McLennan and Johnson Counties, but exactly when and where has not been announced.

Waco businessman Rob Curnock, meanwhile, held the first in a series of town hall meetings Thursday evening in Waco.

Curnock, who lost a close race with Edwards in 2008 and hopes to win the GOP nomination to take another run at unseating in the incumbent in 2010, also plans meetings in Brazos, Johnson and Bosque Counties.