President Obama held a town hall meeting in New Hampshire today, Tuesday, August 11, in an effort to calm fears over the Democrats’ legislative initiatives to reform healthcare in this country. The meeting was structured, and no visible emotional outbursts were seen as in other meetings with lawmakers across the country.
Obama answered questions posed by attendees, emphatically telling the audience that the current healthcare system solely benefits the insurance industry. With 46 million in the country without health insurance, he tried to reassure his audience that they would be able to keep their current coverage and doctor and that the government would not be “in charge”. Obama hammered on the fact that the government and insurance bureaucrats should not be meddling, that pre-existing conditions will be covered and that insurance companies would not be able to drop or deny coverage or water down coverage. Many of the questions on voter’s minds that were expected to be answered, especially with respect to employers and small businesses, were not addressed.
Numerous recent polls show support for healthcare reform is eroding, and the President’s numbers are dropping as well over fears that a government takeover of our healthcare system in the U.S. will lead to a Canadian style system with long waits for treatments and referrals.
The President’s message today was supposed to address people who already have insurance through their employers and highlight how his proposals would affect them. HAI monitored the town hall meeting and didn’t find the retool of the White House message to have answered those questions. Another town hall meeting with Obama is scheduled for Bozeman, Montana on Friday, and on Saturday, Obama will be in Grand Junction, Colorado.
Meanwhile, the White House has opened a Reality Check website with a viral tool aimed at online healthcare combat on everything from rationing to euthanasia. The website incorporates lessons learned from the Obama presidential campaign, and shows the White House is becoming more aggressive in dispelling what they call misinformation in the healthcare debates.
The August Congressional Recess is not even half over, and Democratic lawmakers are very much at risk of losing control of the public debate over healthcare reform, facing wary constituents and facing a barrage of accusations and criticism over their writing of the legislation prior to leaving Washington. Powerful groups on both sides of the debate are using the August recess to hammer home to lawmakers that there are very serious political consequences to the healthcare issue. Read More EMR Stimulus Package