Raucous crowd fills library for health care meeting

Libraries are supposed to be quiet, but it was anything but at 6 p.m. Monday night in Blue Springs.
“We all want the same things,” an older woman said before the large crowd that had assembled.
“No we don’t,” a man shouted. “We don’t want socialism! We don’t want it!”
“Shut up!”
The fiery exchange came after the Pledge of Allegiance, one of few moments Monday night when a single voice among the estimated 300 people at the Mid-Continent Public Library South Branch in Blue Springs rose and fell uninterrupted.
Then a prayer, where the same woman asked that everyone hold hands and pray.
“No way,” a man said. “Let’s get this thing going.”
 The woman asked everyone to not be displeasing toward God. Pray for the country, she asked, and pray for Sen. Claire McCaskill.
Grumbles and laughter.
Two or three boos.
The “amen” couldn’t be heard over the shouts and laughter, or the  hushed remarks about President Obama and his proposed health care reform. Remarks about government bailouts, deficits, doctors moving out of the country because of approaching bureaucracies and the lack of healthy competition.
Welcome to the health care debate 2009.
Kimberly Jolley, a representative for McCaskill’s office, said she was pleased that so many people showed up to what she called the Kitchen Table Talk event, an event meant to gather public input and forward it  to McCaskill.
Crowding into nearly half of the library for more than an hour, people voiced their apparent displeasure over proposals in Washington, D.C., to create a government-run health care system, one that would supplement an existing system that supporters believe has gotten out of control and is becoming too costly for the lower and middle class to join.
“There are usually 20 people at this type of event,” Jolley said, asking that people line up and meet individually with representatives and tell them their concerns.
That’s when it started.
“We want an open forum,” a man yelled.
“They don’t want to know what people are feeling about this,” another woman yelled. “We want an open discussion.”
Another man, who refused to identify himself to the media, said: “It’s time for a revolution.”
Sarah Jordan, a Blue Springs resident, stood up on a chair and asked that everyone remain calm, and that everyone realize that’s what the opposition wants.
“Keep this calm,” she said. “That’s what they want – chaos. Our point will never be heard. We don’t want this to turn into a riot.”
“You don’t sound calm!” a man shouted from the rear of the crowd, followed by more shouts of displeasure, and demands that a microphone be plugged in so everyone could hear.
When library officials attempted to plug in the microphone, one man yelled: “They can’t fix the microphone, but they want to fix our health care. Call FOX News, they’ll fix it!”
The issue of overhauling the nation’s health care system is proving to be a divisive one. Across the country, lawmakers are hearing from constituents worried about such issues as the government’s role in health care and the costs of an overhaul that is expected to cover many of the 50 million or more uninsured.
While Congress is in recess for the month of August, many lawmakers are taking the opportunity to gather as much input they can from their constituency to help guide the formation of a specific bill.
“Have you read the bill?” a man yelled at McCaskill’s representatives. “Have you read it? All of it?”
No answer, at least none that could be heard.
“Read the bill, read the bill, read the bill!” they chanted.
Another woman approached Jolley and presented her with a folded piece of paper upon which, she said, was written the summary of a proposed bill overhauling health care.
Jolley looked at it and said there was no finished bill.
What has been circulated among legislators, she said, has no number. There has been no formal presentation of a bill, she said.
Eventually the excitement began to wane and fall off. Jolley was able to address some questions, but there were still boos, still scoffs, still a random moment when she had to stop and wait.
One man threw up his hands and left after he realized McCaskill was not in attendance, though Jolley said the senator had made two public appearances at Kitchen Table Talks earlier in the day in eastern Missouri.
“One of the reasons why Sen. McCaskill has no position on this issue is because there are many proposals out there,” Jolley said, adding that McCaskill will only support an overhaul that permits competition.
Jolley also refuted comments made that the proposal will raise taxes on the middle class, or that it will ration out health care, encourage euthanasia or endanger Medicare.
Another man, who also declined to identify himself to the media, said nowhere in the U.S. Constitution does it give Congress the right to rule or legislate health care.
“It’s not the government’s job,” he said. “Where (in the document) does it give it the right to decide my health care?”
Perhaps the loudest reception came when a man admitted that he’d never been involved in politics. He stressed, however, that the majority of his family will be active in helping McCaskill’s opposition – whoever that may be – come election time.
“We’ll be out crusading for whoever runs against her,” he said.
Jan Brill, a retired teacher who lives in Grain Valley, stood in the back of the room for the duration. She did not speak publicly, but said after the meeting that she believes some kind of reform is needed.
“Calling this socialism is simply fear mongering,” she said. “And I know that what was said tonight doesn’t reflect the average constituency, and I hope lawmakers know that.”
Brill admits her retirement health insurance is better than most, but $1 of every $5 goes to her health insurance.
“I don’t see how they can let things go they way they are going,” she said. “We need to do something.”

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Information is available about the proposal at www.thomas.gov.