Report on Lungren Town Hall Meetings

Margie Metzler

I went to two of the three Lungren Town Halls and my friend Arnie Godmintz went to the third. The first, on August 19, was in Citrus Heights. I got there about 20 minutes before the event was to begin, and was too late to get in. I stayed in the line about an hour, however, talking to people. There were people with signs and flyers all around, most objecting to the public option, and one demonstration, three black guys, held a sign showing Barack Obama with a Hitler mustache. I heard later they were with Lyndon Larouche. The demonstrations were impassioned, but not violent and I felt no danger. There were a lot of progressives there too and that was comforting.

I chatted with a guy in front of me, older and mad in general. He seemed somewhat confused and I noticed that he was pretty much just spouting the talking points from Fox. I told him I was uninsured and asked him what kind of healthcare he had, and he answered “Medicare”. I pointed out that is a government program and asked how he liked it. He loves it. “I just want the program you have,” I responded. He continued railing about “government interference,” no understanding and no irony. I asked him if he gets his news from Fox, and he said “Yes, that’s where you hear the truth.” I said mildly that they don’t in fact tell the truth and that was that.

I said to the four people behind me, “I am uninsured and I am scared.” They were not pro-reform, but were nice people, and asked me why I was not insured. I said that I had been laid off from a good job three years ago and that it is not easy for a woman in her 60’s to find a job, especially in this economy, and that I was now working three part-time jobs, including adjunct teacher in a local college, but these are all jobs that don’t provide benefits. I think people ask why I’m uninsured because they want to prove I am a bum, i.e. not a worthwhile person, and also to prove to themselves that this couldn’t happen to them. They are always quiet when I tell them my story, probably because it does indeed occur to them that bad things can happen to good people and in fact they are in danger too.

The woman with the group spoke up. “These three guys work for me, and I can barely afford their insurance. If my taxes get raised I won’t be able to afford it any more.” I sympathized but than said “Have your costs to insure them gone up every year?” and she said yes. I asked “Well, if nothing changes, won’t these increasing costs force you to cut off their insurance anyway?” She said yes, and one of the guys said I had given him something to think about.

I also went to the Town Hall on Aug. 26 in Rancho Cordova. To me, that one was much more depressing.

The group was orderly. There were people with signs, but no yelling that I saw. I was behind a man in his 80’s, who had a sign that said No government programs, Government stay out of my healthcare, keep the constitution, no more taxes, and No to socializm (sic.) I tapped him on the shoulder and noted that he had spelled socialism incorrectly, told him I was uninsured myself, at 64, and then asked what healthcare he had. He answered “Medicare and Tricare.” I said that those were the best and he was most fortunate, but did he realize that those were both “Government programs.” He seemed surprised and said “that’s different.” I added that I just want the same for myself.

Inside the building, there were two large rooms so most of us were seated. Lungren was in the other room, but there was a large screen so we could see him. There were staffers with microphones in both rooms and with the group outside as well, and they took questions from all three places.

The questions were mostly friendly and led to Lungren’s responses such as Protect Medicare and don’t let Democrats take away from seniors, which I found shocking, “Keep government from getting between seniors and their doctors, No rationing based on age, and prevent government from interfering with end-of-life care discussions; Ensure that everyone one can keep what coverage they have, and protect veterans.”

There were several questions I thought were genuine: First a woman told Mr. Lungren that she and her husband had insurance, but their 6 year old child recently was diagnosed with an eye condition which required surgery, and they had just found out that their share of the expense would be over $8000 (I would guess that they have an HSA, which appears to be Mr. Lungren’s idea of reform. He mentioned Health Savings Accounts several times but never described them.) She asked plaintively, “What is there we can do? We have to take care of our baby.” I expected Lungren to offer to meet with her, but he didn’t. He suggested she look into local “charities”, and suggested that they try the Shriner’s Hospital. I was genuinely shocked.

I was allowed to ask a question after someone railed against the “loss of liberties” healthcare reform would cause. I said that “there is always a tension in every democracy between the individual liberties of citizens and the best interests of society as a whole. I am uninsured, and shortly after I first heard of the Swine Flu, I developed flu-like symptoms and did not see a doctor. But,” I asked, “in a country where fully 20% of the citizens under 65 are uninsured and unlikely to see a doctor except when they're seriously ill, how can we expect to track or contain pandemics such as Swine Flu?” Lungren started by defending the CDC (which of course I hadn’t attacked), and then said he “questioned my statistics”, and then he stopped suddenly, paused, admitted he had completely lost his train of thought and asked for another question. (I turned to the woman nest to me, a single-payer proponent, and whispered gleefully that “My question brought the man to his knees.”)

On the way home I was agitated and depressed. I really was angry at Lungren: for being mean-spirited, unfeeling, partisan, and dishonest. It was clear that he uses his Town Halls to spread Conservative orthodoxy, but that he gets very rattled when the questions go in other directions. I was also angry at those nice, suburban people who love him and trust him. When I got to the computer I Googled some of the expressions he had used repeatedly, and was directed to the Fox News website, and from there, to the Republican National Committee website, Seniors Health Care Bill of Rights (http://www.gop.com/news/NewsRead.aspx?GUID=bc1d50c0-5ef7-4026-8db5-efd402b01677 ). I have reprinted this document below with my comments in red.

The Enemies of healthcare reform are cynically, carefully and in lock step going after seniors. Their goal is to get them to vote and act against the Obama administration… in spite of the fact that they would be voting against their own self-interests.

Note: This is clearly the fight on our hands right now. We in Gray Panthers are committed to educating legislators of both parties and at both the state and Federal level about health care issues.