Reichley Column: Healthy questions for town hall meetings

Most of the time, members of Congress would do anything to get constituents to notice them. But this summer, a lot of our representatives act like they wish they were in the witness protection program.
It appears that Americans are fed up and want to let their representatives know.

I’m not sure our local politicians have scheduled meetings to discuss issues with their constituents. Some are phoning it in, asking people to join them in teleconferences. Sen. Webb has taken a trip to
Asia. But it is clear people are upset with what Congress is up to, and it is imperative that every one of our elected officials hold public meetings so they can understand how out of touch they are with the
American people.

So hopefully, our representatives Wolf, Wittman and Connally and Sens. Webb and Warner will have the courtesy to hold real town halls. I won’t say “courage” — it takes no courage for a person elected
by the people to meet with those people, unless they are acting against the will of those they represent.

If our representatives hold meetings, here’s what I would like to hear them discuss regarding the government takeover of health care that they are debating in Washington.

First, Obama talks about “his” plan. But Obama doesn’t have a plan. And when Obama is asked about specific provisions in the House plan, he admits he doesn’t know what is in that bill. So, will our
representatives pledge that they will not support any bill with any provisions that violate the promises Obama is making, or do they think that they have no obligation to keep Obama honest?

Second, we are told that if we like our current plan, we will keep it. Obama even says the “public” option will be run as poorly as the Post Office, so just like Fed Ex and UPS thrive while the USPS loses
billions, private insurance won’t be threatened by his health care plan.

But Planned Parenthood, pushing their supporters to include abortion on demand in the government plan, says that not including abortion coverage could slash benefits that millions of women currently
have in private plans. The question — why would millions of women lose benefits in their private plans, if we are going to get to keep our private plans if we like them? Will our representatives promise that,
five years from now, we will still have our current plans?

Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats say the private insurance companies are evil. So Obama is promising that we can keep our insurance companies, while his party says our insurance
companies are the problem. So the question is, how will they fix the problem, if they think the problem is our insurance companies, and they promise we can keep our insurance? I’d love to hear our
representatives explain that contradiction.

Fourth, more than 250 million people in this country have insurance, and a vast majority of us say we like our current insurance. Instead, the biggest complaint is how much insurance costs, and how
much health care costs. But the bills being considered focus on providing insurance for the minority of people who are uninsured, adding a trillion dollars to the cost of health care.

In effect, Congress is threatening to damage or destroy the health care of over 80 percent of Americans, to provide subsidized insurance coverage to the small minority who currently lack insurance —
even though most without insurance still get medical treatment when needed, and many don’t even try to get insurance. So the question is, will our representatives promise not to harm the vast majority of
their constituents who like their current plan?

Here are other questions to ask. Will our representatives promise to read the bill, and provide a readable summary to us before they vote? Will they allow amendments to the bill, or will they block votes
which might make the bill better, but destroy deals made to buy votes? Will they pledge to keep Obama’s promise to not raise any taxes on people who make less than $250,000 a year? Will they stop
Obama’s plan to cut Medicare? Will they denounce claims that people who want to talk to their representatives are un-American?

And most importantly, will they acknowledge that a bad bill is a lot worse than no bill at all, because right now we have first-class medical care?

Charles Reichley has been a Prince William County resident since 1981.