Health care dominates town hall
Congressman gets an earfull at listening tour stop in county
Managing editor
When Congressman Jerry Moran stopped in Hillsboro Thursday afternoon, more than 120 people packed Wohlgemuth Music Center on the Tabor College campus, wanting to know about proposed health care changes.
Moran showed the 1,000-page health care bill that Congress is considering and said he doesn’t support the bill because he wanted to see it focus more on prevention and diagnoses rather than treatment.
Medicare also is a concern, with 90 percent of patients in Kansas hospitals being Medicare recipients.
“The President wants to find savings in Medicare,” Moran said, “which would be difficult to do.”
He predicted that by 2017, there would be more Medicare benefits paid out than paid in.
“The medical system needs to be shored up, not torn down,” Moran said.
Of the 42 million Americans who are not insured, Moran said about one-third do not want to be.
“Young people choose not to be insured because they’re healthy and they believe they don’t need it,” he said.
There are many who want insurance but cannot afford it.
The proposed insurance plan could require employers of 50 people or more to provide it to their employees. If employers