Latham dispels health care rumors at town hall

INDIANOLA — Health care reform legislation currently being considered in the U.S. House does not include anything regarding government-mandated euthanasia or any language pertaining to abortion, U.S. Rep. Tom Latham (R-Ames) told a town hall forum Tuesday.

U.S. Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, listens to question at a town hall forum in Indianola.

Health care dominated Latham’s discussion with nearly 200 people at the Warren County Administration Building just south of Des Moines, and while he was quick to point out his opposition to many of the ideas being floated to fix the nation’s health care system, he was equally quick to dismiss untrue claims being spouted of late by reform opponents.

Despite the fact that many of his fellow Republicans say otherwise, including fellow Iowan and U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, Latham said so-called “death panels” are not in the bill. The provision in question deals with funding for voluntary end-of-life planning, he said.

You also won’t find any mention of abortion, he said. An advertising campaign paid for by anti-abortion groups says a lack of specifics on abortion in the bill will end with taxpayer dollars being spent on abortions.

The bill that has been passed by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee stipulates that the only abortion services that could be paid for with government funds would be those in which the mother’s life was endangered or in cases of rape or incest.

“There is nothing in the bill one way or another,” Latham said, later adding that while there have been amendments in committee that would specifically prohibit it, those were voted down.

In contrast to the civil discourse inside the town hall meeting was this poster, taped to the side of a truck parked just outside.

There is no question something has to be done to fix America’s health care system, Latham said, because there are too many people without access to quality health insurance.

But because any health care reform will touch the lives of every citizen, it should not be “rushed through in the middle of the night” without giving lawmakers and the American people a chance to weigh its ramifications, he said.

He opposes any government-run option, but he does think there is a lot of room for improvement.

“We’ve got to step back and work together,” Latham said, later adding: “We should be careful when we label insurance companies as ‘bad guys.’ Des Moines is the second-largest insurance city in the country. We’re talking about Iowans here.”

Latham’s solution to health care would include setting a permanent floor for Medicare payments to eliminate geographic disparity for doctors in rural states; allowing small businesses to pool together across state lines to negotiate affordable health insurance with private providers; and allowing individuals to fully deduct the cost of insurance from their taxes, regardless of whether coverage is through an employer.

“We have got to have competition in the marketplace,” he said. “And there are a lot of things we can do to make things better.”

Latham also discussed nonprofit health care cooperatives, an idea making the rounds as a possible alternative to a new government insurance plans. Until he sees how they will be structured, Latham said he cannot give an informed opinion or say whether he would vote for or against bills that supported the idea. But he did say he is not comfortable with the idea of the government providing funding for the co-ops.

Cooperatives, which can be defined as private, nonprofit, consumer-owned providers of health care, have already been attempted in Iowa with no success. As the New York Times pointed out Tuesday, Iowa adopted a law to encourage the development of health care co-ops in the 1990s. However, the extreme competitive advantage insurance companies like Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield hold in the Midwest killed the only co-op ever created in Iowa, and to this day no one has established another.

There was very little of the contentiousness that lawmakers faced in other states, as the audience was polite and respectful. That is, until the final question, asked by a woman who said she has had problems holding down a job and maintaining insurance coverage because of chronic illnesses. Before she finished her question, several audience members shouted her down, with one telling her to “Shut up, get a trade and get a job.”

Latham, who had already announced that the forum was over, left after the yelling without addressing either party.