Health care hot topic at town hall

BY JENNIFER BAILEY

DANVILLE — U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Urbana, didn’t go into Monday night’s town hall meeting in Danville to talk about just one topic. But the majority of the 20 public or so questions had to do with the emotional topic of health care.

Just ask Danville residents Brenda Furry and Roberta Pepping about it.

Furry with the machining shop Furry Inc. on East Voorhees Street asked Johnson what the government can do for small businesses that did not receive any bailout money, and how her family can receive health insurance when denied?

Johnson replied the government shouldn’t be increasing small businesses’ taxes, it shouldn’t be bailing out big corporate America and that it should make the system work for small businesses.

He also believes small business should be able to pool together to provide more health care access and that pre-existing conditions should not be punished. He supports health care savings accounts and he doesn’t favor taxing people’s health insurance benefits.

Roberta Pepping, a 35-year registered nurse from Danville, said the rationing of health care has existed for at least 25 years, with care being denied. She said the profit motive must be removed.

“The health insurance industry has to be reformed somehow,” she said.

Johnson said he doesn’t want to see a reduction of health care services on the backs of senior citizens.

“With government-run health care, seniors are pushed aside and I don’t think that’s a trade off that the American people want,” he said.

A couple hundred people attended the town hall meeting. The meeting was to be conducted at city hall, but was moved to the David S. Palmer Arena to accommodate more people. In addition to Danville residents, the meeting attracted a bus-load of Campaign for Better Heath Care members from Urbana. Johnson didn’t attend a weekend forum in Urbana to specifically discuss health care reform, so they came to him.

The Campaign for Better Health Care is a coalition of organizations and individuals, working to help create and advocate for an accessible, quality health care system that provides for all.

Johnson’s Danville stop was part of a series of town meetings he’s conducting this summer in Villa Grove, Rantoul, Normal, Pontiac, Robinson and other cities to discuss federal issues with residents of the 15th Congressional District.

Some attendees kept asking Johnson when he will have a town hall meeting in Urbana.

Many audience members held signs about health care reform, but others had “I support Johnson” stickers.

In a press release sent out before the meeting, Jim Duffett, executive director of Campaign for Better Health Care, who also spoke at the meeting, said “Congressman Johnson has made it clear that he will not be on the side of the medical community, small businesses and hard working Americans in the 15th district. Instead he will continue his fear mongering political rhetoric to provide cover for the insurance industry.”

Johnson told Duffett that he supports Medicare and health care for veterans.

The group says if Congress does nothing or votes against health care reform, individuals with insurance will see their costs soar by 85 percent; the number of hard-working Illinoisans losing their coverage will swell to 72,000 a year; small businesses will end coverage to their workers at record levels; and more hospitals will close their doors due to the growing number of uninsured, jeopardizing the care of everyone in the community.

At the start of the meeting, Johnson, who was greeted with a loud round of applause, said there are other important issues being discussed at the federal level, including the energy bill, veterans issues and making sure local VA services are protected, and the 2010 budget and stimulus package, which he says is adding to the debt generations from now will have to pay for.

Other topics included: reading bills before he votes on them, political term limits and U.S. czars. A woman also thanked Johnson for supporting the unborn.

Danville resident Greg Shepherd asked about the proposed Federal Reserve audit, which Johnson says he supports 100 percent.

Shepherd said of Johnson “he’s not been following the herd and that’s what I really like about him.”

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