OUR VIEW: Town halls allow lawmakers to listen, correct rampant misinformation
U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' three health-care town halls this week were no cake walk, but we believe they were thoroughly worthwhile.
Southern Arizonans were able to express their fears, their hopes and their anger about the various proposals for health-care reform.
Giffords, a Southern Arizona Democrat and a member of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog coalition in the U.S. House, was able to lay out basic elements of her stance on reform and to correct some of the rampant misinformation about health-reform proposals.
Although a crowd of about 500 in Green Valley on Tuesday was largely polite, the Star's Stephanie Innes reported booing and heckling at larger forums Monday and Tuesday in Sierra Vista and Tucson.
Democracy can be messy. And, as Giffords told Innes after the last town hall at Sahuaro High School, "Change is hard."
"I feel great, it was a very substantive discussion," she told Innes. "Tempers ran high. . . . But more than anything, what I heard was frustration with a broken system."
Each of the two-hour forums drew an overflow crowd. A total of about 4,000 attended.
During the forum at Sahuaro High School, Innes reported that Giffords had to remind the crowd several times to be respectful of others. At one point she asked hecklers to "be a little less rude."
In Green Valley about 100 people were shut out of the forum because there was no room for them. Some were upset. But local radio station KGVY 1080-AM broadcast the forum live.
It's important that the forums also allowed the congresswoman to correct or clarify wrong information that is circulating about health-care-reform plans.
At all three forums, for instance, speakers were upset because they, incorrectly, thought that reform bills would offer coverage to illegal immigrants, according to Giffords aide C.J. Karamargin.
"None of the proposals would provide coverage to illegal immigrants," he noted.
The health debate has been raucous around the country and opponents have, in fact, circulated a lot of false information: that "death panels" would determine care for the elderly, for instance. It's a patent lie. No bill provides for pulling the plug on Granny.
What is included in one bill is optional insurance coverage for families who choose to seek counseling about end-of-life decisions. The key word there is "optional."
Another alarmist claim is that reform will result in government rationing of care. In fact, health care already is rationed by private insurers, who may refuse to cover pre-existing conditions or certain drugs or procedures because they're "experimental" or (in the insurance company's experts' opinions) not medically necessary.
People are also concerned that Congress has locked in on a bill. But that is not so. In fact, while the House has voted out H.R. 3200, there are several other bills in the hopper and a plan still to come from the Senate Finance Committee.
While everyone didn't come away happy from Giffords' forums, at least a great many people were able to speak directly to their congresswoman. And they heard directly from her.
Giffords emphasized that she has not yet endorsed any health-reform bill. She spelled out her position on several elements of reform, saying she does not support a single-payer option for all Americans. She also supports malpractice tort reform.
Giffords drew boos, according to Karamargin, when she told crowds she is a strong supporter of a public option. And, she told the crowds, she won't vote for any bill "that is not actually paid for."
Giffords also met in a 90-minute closed session on Monday with about 20 local religious leaders.
"I just wanted to sit down and be able to discuss this issue with religious leaders without them having to worry about their comments being taken out of context," Giffords told the Star's Brian J. Pedersen. "It was a conversation. These leaders, every single weekend they stand up before their members to answer their questions."
We're glad Giffords has reached out to her constituents and invited face-to-face discussions of health-care issues. We're glad people were able to participate in a substantive discussion.
All Arizonans should study this issue directly instead of accepting second-hand rumors and politicized talk-show bombast as facts. Attending a town hall is an excellent first step. Democracy is messy, but it's great to see it in action.