Partisans take health care debate to the street

CEDAR RAPIDS – The health-care reform debate is shifting from the halls of Congress to town hall meetings this month as federal legislators head home for their August work session.

Wednesday it played out on a street corner in downtown Cedar Rapids.

As supporters of President Barack Obama's health-care reform proposals arrived and left an organizational meeting at the Ecumenical Center of Cedar Rapids at the corner of Second Avenue SE and Sixth Street SE, they were met by demonstrators calling for a more thorough discussion of health-care reform.

Inside, about 75 people heard current and former Democratic officeholders make the case that America has waited long enough for health-care reform.

“Harry Truman was calling for health-care reform” back in 1948, former Rep. Ro Foege of Mount Vernon said. “The people who are saying ‘What's the rush?' want to stop (health-care reform).”

They also heard from Lois Rude, who said she is paying a $13,000 medical bill “$100-a-month for life” because her insurance didn't cover her outpatient surgery.

“I'm an example of how even if you have health insurance, it's broken,” Rude said, urging the audience that included 20-somethings and senior citizens, health professionals and insurance agency employees to act now.

“Today, this is it. We need to take action,” Rude told the audience.

Outside, Tim Palmer asked “What's the rush?” but said he's not trying to kill health-care reform.

Pointing to a foot-high printout of a House health-care reform bill, he called for members of Congress to read the bill before voting on it.

“My kids have read all seven of the Harry Potter books and each of them is about 700 pages,” Palmer said. “If my kids can do that, we think members of Congress ought to read the 1,017-page health-care bill.”

The sidewalk debates were amicable, but Palmer, who chairs the Linn County Republican Party, and Gretchen Lawyer, co-founder of Linn County Connects, which so-sponsored the health-care meeting with Obama's Organizing for America, said the debate will continue.

Iowa's congressmen will be holding town hall meetings around the state and present “a great opportunity to talk about health-care,” Lawyer said. She stopped short of saying either organization was telling people to go to congressmen's forums.

Organizing for America, the successor to Obama for America, distributed four-color brochures with talking points and Internet links for more information on the president's proposals.

The Linn County Republicans also distributed talking points and are making information available on congressmen's schedules.

“There's a demand for that information,” Palmer said. “People are angry and they want to be heard.”