Moran Responds to Single-Payer Questions
By Stephen Spitz
August 28, 2009, Reston, VA
Over 3000 people attended the town hall meeting last night (August 25) with Rep. Jim Moran (D-8th CD) and Howard Dean in Reston, Virginia. PDA VA members carrying Healthcare NOT Warfare signs were among them. While Randall Terry and his right-to-life crew and other assorted health care reform opponents tried their best to disrupt the proceedings (
see video), healthcare reform supporters were clearly in the majority. The meeting was very successful from the standpoint of single-payer advocates.
Questions were drawn at random from boxes. Because several of us had submitted questions, several of us actually got to ask questions. PDA VA chapter chair Sarah Stott asked the very first question question: "My brother lived in France for 10 years. His doctors bills and medical prescriptions were paid for through the government system. He did not have to wait in line to see a doctor. Why in the U.S. are people afraid of such a system?" Dr. Dean responded to the question by explaining the different histories of France and the U.S. with respect to healthcare and commented that people in the U.S. don't like change.
Another single-payer supporter asked a single-payer question, and American Medical Student Association (AMSA) stalwart and VA Coalition member Elizabeth Wiley asked Moran where he stood on the Weiner amendment. Moran indicated he was not sure what the Weiner amendment was, mentioned that he supported John Conyers' bill (HR 676) last year, but this year he decided to support the Obama plan. The Weiner amendment, if passed, would substitute HR 3200 with HR 676. PDA VA members will follow-up with Cong. Moran in pursuit of his support for the amendment.
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