Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter held a Telephone Town Meeting

Congresswoman Shea-Porter held a telephone town meeting on health care reform last night. There were over 13,000 callers on the line. It was very informative. People asked tough questions and she gave thoughtful, detailed answers. After hearing the discussion I felt very comfortable with the health care reforms being proposed and I believe that all Americans will benefit from these reforms.

Some of the key features she highlighted are:

· If you like your current insurance plan, you can keep it
· You won’t be denied insurance coverage if you have pre-existing conditions
· Insurance companies will not be able to cancel your policy
· If you can’t afford insurance, you may qualify for assistance funding
· A public option, similar to Medicare, will be one of many options available
· A pool of private insurance plans will be available for people to select
· There are no “death panels”- doctors will be able to be reimbursed for consultations with patients regarding their final wishes- and the consultations are your’s to choose to have, only with your doctor, and no one else
· Medicare service will not be changed. Actions will address quality, redundancy and waste to reduce costs.
· Health Reform will not increase the national debt- it will have to pay it’s own way
· Some of the cost will be covered by a surcharge on people with incomes over $300,000
· Medicare Drug coverage will improve over a few years to reduce the “donut hole” currently in the plan
· All Americans who do not have insurance will now have the opportunity for coverage
· Half of the small businesses in America don’t provide health insurance to employees today- these people will now have insurance available to them
· Illegal aliens will not be covered by the public option
· The choice of private plans available to people will include companies that do and do not provide abortion funding
· The government paid public option will not cover abortions

I think these reforms are good for everyone. It will make us healthier and it will make America better.