By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — Two Arkansas congressmen pledged Wednesday to fight for personal freedom and against an all-government-run system as Congress debates health care reform — promises drowned out by the shrill of hecklers shouting fears of losing health care choices to government bureaucrats.

U.S. Reps. Mike Ross and Vic Snyder drew the ire of an often unruly audience during a forum on the proposed health care overhaul hosted by Arkansas Children’s Hospital. They were accused of supporting a government takeover of the nation’s health care system that would limit choices and burden taxpayers.

Ross, D-Prescott, who owns a pharmacy, and Snyder, D-Little Rock, a physician and attorney, said none of the nearly half-dozen proposals pending before the House and Senate is final.

“It will take 10 legislative votes before a final bill reaches the president’s desk,” Ross told the raucous crowd. “None of us yet know what it will look like.”

Ross, leader of the Blue Dog Democrats, a group of fiscally conservative House Democrats that successfully postponed a House vote on any health care reform bill until September, said he supports freedom of choice and that any public-option plan should compete with private insurance.
He also said he wants people to be able to keep their current health insurance if they choose to do so, and that any plan approved should not raise the federal deficit.

In response to questions, both said they opposed any bill that would make physicians government-salaried employees, or that would prohibit people from properly caring for elderly parents or grandparents.

During one exchange, a woman questioned the need for health care reform.

“If 80 percent of us, say, have (health) insurance, 20 percent that don’t, why do 80 percent of us have to change and give something to you — to ya’ll, the government, President Obama, who came in with an agenda — why do we have to change our way of life for that 20 percent?” the unidentified woman asked.

Snyder noted that when the 39th Infantry Brigade of the Arkansas National Guard was called up to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, about one-third of the soldiers were turned away for medical reasons.

“So our health care system and how we do health care is a national security issue, and that’s not a new concept in this country,” he said. “The second thing is, we don’t want to change everybody’s way of life. I want you (to be) satisfied with what you have. Particularly those on Medicare.”

Rob Richard of Little Rock asked if the congressmen would agree to sign a petition saying they would themselves go onto the government’s insurance plan if that is what Congress passes.

Ross and Snyder both said they would oppose any plan that had just a single government insurance plan.

“They dodged the question,” Richard said later.

Susan Jones of Little Rock suggested that any reform plan should allow for the transferring of insurance coverage from job to job, and that people should be able to purchase their health insurance like they do car insurance across state lines.

Jacob Kauffman, a junior at Hendrix College in Conway, got a mix of boos and applause from the audience when he told the lawmakers he was “a huge Obama fan.”

He told Ross and Snyder he was “mad at you guys for not standing up for stronger health care reform. But, after seeing this crowd, I’m pleased with you what you guys have done.”

Colleen Shoemaker of Bauxite, who a few times heckled the congressmen from her chair, later apologized, saying she was just worried about the current state of the country.

“I’m scared,” she said, breaking into tears.

“We all are,” someone in the crowd responded.