Healthcare Town Hall / Listening Session with Congressman Ron Kind

On August 20, I attended a Health Care Bill Listening Session with Wisconsin Congressman Ron Kind. The session was originally scheduled to be held at the town hall but due to the overwhelming interest it was moved to the Tomah High School in order to accommodate a larger number of people.

Never having ever been at any kind of political event I didn't know what to expect so I showed up an hour early for the meeting so not to miss anything. The first thing I noticed when I pulled up to the school parking lot was it was not full. This suppressed me as I saw on TV the Town Hall meetings they were having in Pennsylvania could not hold all that wanted to attend the meetings.

Upon entering the school I was told I would need to fill out an informational sheet before entering the auditorium. This consisted of simple questions: name, phone number, address, and email. I guess this was to increase Ron Kind's mailing list. I was also told that if I wanted to ask a question or make a comment I would need to take a ticket, as speakers would be chosen lottery style.

The meeting was scheduled to start at 11:00 but the auditorium was only about half full. At 11:15 when it finally did start there was standing room only. Introductions were made and the ground rules were reviewed. Four people were chosen to ask questions/make statements. As time permitted more people would be chosen 23 people in all each allotted two minutes to voice their feeling or concerns about the health care bill.

The crowd was a bit rowdy and at times very vocal but not hostile and they easily returned to a calm state. Only one person had to be ejected from the meeting.

The comments made were most overwhelmingly against the bill as it stands. For such reasons as abortions are included in the bill, no one knows where is the money coming from, The Canadians system doesn't why would we want to emulate it? Is there going to be a wait for life saving procedures?

The few for the bill made points such as in Europe health care is a right and if illegal aliens can't pay for their health care send the bill to their government.

When the time was up 12:30 Ron Kind made his closing statements. Letting us know that he believes heath care is in need of reform and he would like to see us all work together to get something done.

Not knowing how his other town hall meeting went I can only guess they were basically the same and I would really like to remind Congressman Ron Kind and the rest of our representatives in Washington that they are representing us "We the People" and to do the right thing and listen to what we the people have to say!