Royce Health Care Town Hall 2.0

Congressman Ed Royce (CA-40)
Congressman Ed Royce (CA-40)

Ed Royce held another local Town Hall meeting in Garden Grove on Saturday. Unlike his last one, this time Royce slapped down the Lyndon LaRouche supporter who carried a poster of President Obama with a Hitler moustache.

“It’s not a Nazi health care policy, it’s a socialist health care policy,” Royce said. “The one thing Democrats and Republicans and Libertarians and Peace and Freedom all agree with is that Lyndon LaRouche is a nut case.”

Unfortunately, I was unable to make it to his forum, but the Orange County Register’s Courtney Perks had it covered.

Hundreds pack O.C. health care reform town hall

GARDEN GROVE – More than 300 people packed an impassioned but civil town hall meeting on health care reform Saturday, with many showing their views through clothing, homemade signs and even a President Obama Halloween mask.

The discussion, hosted by Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, had to be relocated from a tiny coffee shop to a cordoned strip mall parking lot because of the turnout.

Unlike other recent forums across the country, the crowd remained largely respectful during the 75-minute forum. There were some boos and “shut ups,” but mostly rounds of applause, particularly when Royce outlined his objections to the Democratic health care reform legislation that contains a public option to compete with private insurers.

“Most of your constituents are against national health care,” 19-year-old Eric Smith, a member of the Chapman University College Republicans, told Royce. “How will we change votes in Congress? It seems like telling our friends in Orange County isn’t really going to change the national scheme of things.”

Royce responded that Americans need to hear all sides and become energized. 

I’ve got to wonder if there are any actual studies or opinion polls taken of the constituents in Royce’s 40th Congressional District that supports Eric Smith’s belief that most do not support national health care. My guess is that a good portion of the residents of Royce’s district are either over 65 years old and on Medicare, or have a relative who is. I am relatively confident that they would support the elimination of this National Health Care Plan.

While one sign read, “Keep Your Hands Off My Grandma’s Health Care,” Lisa Jewett, 58, carried poster board that said: “This Grandma Wants Health Reform.”

When Jewett addressed Royce, she began by saying she supports a public option.

“Our current plan is the insurance companies compete,” said Jewett, who lives in Anaheim. “My husband has cancer. Under the current plan, how many companies do you think will be competing to cover him? Zero. All of us are in many ways one pink slip away from catastrophe.”

Royce told her he supports state risk pools to allow those with pre-existing conditions to buy coverage. He’s also in favor of medical malpractice reform, which he said would eliminate unnecessary tests that doctors perform to avoid getting sued. He said he believes the Democratic proposal is too expensive, inhibits free market competition and would attract more illegal immigrants.

On Saturday, President Obama addressed the phony claims about the Health Care Reform plan in his weekly address.

Let’s start with the false claim that illegal immigrants will get health insurance under reform. That’s not true.  Illegal immigrants would not be covered. That idea has never even been on the table. Some are also saying that coverage for abortions would be mandated under reform. Also false. When it comes to the current ban on using tax dollars for abortions, nothing will change under reform.  And as every credible person who has looked into it has said, there are no so-called “death panels” – an offensive notion to me and to the American people. These are phony claims meant to divide us.

And we’ve all heard the charge that reform will somehow bring about a government takeover of health care. I know that sounds scary to many folks. It sounds scary to me, too. But here’s the thing: it’s not true. I no sooner want government to get between you and your doctor than I want insurance companies to make arbitrary decisions about what medical care is best for you, as they do today. As I’ve said from the beginning, under the reform we seek, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your private health insurance plan, you can keep your plan. Period.

This forumwas, from what we understand, peaceful and civilized. That is a refreshing change from the nutty stuff that has occurred at others. We do have to give Royce credit for holding such a town hall forum. Not everyone has. So good job Ed.

2 Comments

  1. The bill may not include coverage for illegal immigrants, but it doesn’t include any method of keeping them from signing up. Theoretically, the piece of paper you sign when you get a job that declares that you have the right to work in the US was supposed to preserve American jobs. We can all see how well that worked.

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