MEMPHIS, TN - A diverse and much calmer crowd held a civilized conversation about health care reform in Memphis this weekend. And that came as a shock to participant Jonathan Cole.
"I think there is so much disinformation out there," says Cole. "I went to Cohen's town hall meeting. It was so difficult to hear. There were people more interested in screaming instead of listening to what the options were."
To avoid a repeat of the chaos and confusion that occured two weeks ago at U.S. Representative Steve Cohen's town hall meeting, the Memphis lawmaker hosting this latest gathering, made sure it was all business.
"We put out notice early on," says State Representative G.A. Hardaway, a Democrat who represents District 92, "there would be no signs, no disruptions tolerated. No shouting back and forth. It would be an orderly meeting."
Participants heard from a panel of experts including doctors and health insurance executives. Calvin Anderson, with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, explained the three different bills working their way through the Capitol in Washington.
State Senate majority leader, Jim Kyle, a Memphis Democrat who's running for Tennessee governor, talked about the high cost of medical care.
"Isn't the real issue here," says Senator Kyle, "about affordability? If you could afford to go to the doctor and pay for it yourself, would you care if anybody else had health insurance or not?"
Those in attendance said this town hall meeting generated more light than heat, providing them with important information about one of this country's most critical issues.
"I think we need more town hall meetings," says college student Aaron Keith. "As the bills pass on in each phase, we need more town hall meetings to keep citizens up to date and informed."
"There are too many people whose lives fall apart," says Jonathan Cole, "because they can't get adequate health care. People are having to declare bankruptcy because they had to have a major surgery they couldn't pay for. And that just shouldn't happen in the United States."
Local and state lawmakers say the overall solution to the health care crisis in America needs to come from the federal government. What that solution should be, industry reform versus universal health care, still divides both politicians and the people they represent.
