BOULDER — The 400 people crammed together in a parking lot here Monday agreed on one thing: the American health care system has some serious problems.
After that, consensus fizzled. “Medicaid for all!” declared one homemade sign. “We want a public option,” chanted many in the crowd. “Get government out of my health care,” yelled a group of men. “Reform the insurance industry before socializing health care,” said a woman.
U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, who organized the event dubbed “Congress in your corner,” summed up the debate, while touting his support for a public insurance options.
“There are those of you who trust an insurance company over the government and others who trust the government over insurance companies,” he said to a group of seven people sitting at a picnic table outside. “Under our plan, people can choose who they trust.”
Polis and other Democrats are using the congressional recess to garner public support for health care reform. The meeting outside the Southern Sun Pub & Brewery was a town-hall meeting-lite: Instead of taking questions from the crowd, Polis met with a small groups of people at picnic tables.
While opposing sides engaged each other, people generally remained polite.
Bib Lienemann, a “self-employed and self-insured” 53-year-old, called any public-insurance option “nothing but smoke and mirrors.”
“There aren’t going to be private insurance companies because they aren’t going to be able to compete,” he said.
Steve Kovialski, 59, said he too believed that the government would squeeze out the competition, and he questioned the competency of a large bureaucracy to manage people’s health care.
“Have you ever seen the government do anything right?’ said the Louisville consultant. “I want them to stay out of my life.”
Many supporters of a public option or single-payer plan emphasized the need to take care of those who need help.
“I think it’s time to look at the community and not just self,” said John Andrews, a geology professor at the University of Colorado.
