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U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.
“This isn’t a town hall meeting,” Wicker joked in front of the Northeast Mississippi chapter of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors.
What Wicker found was a receptive group of insurance agents as concerned as he is about proposed health care changes championed by President Obama and leading Democrats.
Some U.S. congressmen and senators have come under fire from attendees at town hall meetings where the health care bill was discussed.
“I think the national debate has been healthy,” Wicker said.
Toby Hedges, a Shelter Insurance agent and president of NAIFA-Northeast, said his biggest concern was the extent of government involvement with any proposed plan.
“It seem things get a lot worse when the government gets involved,” he said. “If 70 to 75 percent of the 300 million Americans are happy with their health care and there are 47 million who aren’t, it’s hard for me to say we need to totally revamp the system.”
Hedges also said he believed that health care insurance is a privilege, not a right.
Savings, not spending
Wicker didn’t disagree, but said that every effort should be made to insure as many people as possible.
However, “we need to talk about health care savings, not health care spending,” he said.
Wicker pointed to the Congressional Budget Office’s estimates that the proposed health care changes would cost $1 trillion or more.
Adding on to the growing national debt isn’t the answer, he said.
“There’s no doubt in my mind where the vast majority of Mississippians stand,” he said. “They are against the Democrat proposal and the federal takeover of one-sixth of the nation’s economy ... Health is very personal because it involves life and death issues. Americans don’t want to think about a bureaucrat getting between them and their doctors. And we have to be concerned about the cost of program.”
As for whether the 1,018-page bill will be passed, Wicker qualified his response.
“If members of the House and Senate listen to the people, it will not pass,” he said.
I AGREE THAT I NEVER HEARD ANYONE SAY THEY WERE HAPPY WITH THEIR HEALTH INSURANCE. THE GREATER MAJORITY OF UNINSURED AMERICANS WANT A PUBLIC OPTION BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT SEN. WICKER WANTS BECAUSE IT WOULD RESULT IN CUTS FOR BIG MONEY REPUBLICAN INTERESTS. AND THAT MEANS FOR WICKER'S COFFERS TOO.
WHAT YOU HAVE TO REALIZE IS THAT WICKER IS A RIGHT-WING PROPAGANDA MACHINE. YOU CAN BELIEVE ABOUT 30% OF WHAT HE TELLS YOU COULD BE TRUE WHILE THE OTHER 70% IS TOTAL MISINFORMATION.
I don't think that the lies that have been created to scare people by the insurance companies and the republican opposition,will stand up under scrutiny.
Doesn't this already happen when dealing with insurance companies? They seem to have the power to pick who and what they will cover. I think this bill needs a lot of changes before it is ever passed but I feel that the current system isn't working. Also some of the people that go to town hall meetings shouldn't get all their info from Glen Beck.
Never expect Wicker to do anything that would upset big business,or the wealthy.
I don't know where this guy that said this is from, "“If 70 to 75 percent of the 300 million Americans are happy with their health care and there are 47 million who aren’t, it’s hard for me to say we need to totally revamp the system.”, but I have lived here in Tupelo for about 50 years and I honestly can't ever remember anyone telling me that they were "happy" with their health insurance. Never, ever!