Angry Town Hall Participants Erupt, Demand ‘More Choice’ In Health Care
Angry Town Hall Participants Erupt, Demand ‘More Choice’ In Health Care
During a recent town hall in Massachusetts, an angry attendee asked Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-MA) why she and other Members of Congress won’t enroll in a public plan. Tsongas responded, “People often say why don’t the American people have what those of us in Congress have.” As she tried to explain the substance of the health care reform bill, the town hall participants began screaming, refusing to allow her to speak.
As a member of Congress, Tsongas said she has a “tremendous array of choice” in health care options available to her. The audience yelled, “We want choice! We want choice!” To those who were willing to listen, Tsongas explained, “That is essentially what we are creating for the American people – we are creating greater choice.” Watch it:
As is often the case with these angry town hall participants, their fervent complaints are grounded in a shallow understanding of the facts. The truth is, Obama’s health care plan delivers for those who want more choice, like members of Congress have. The public option would insert public/private competition in a “market” that is currently dominated by a monopoly of health insurers who dictate the terms. As Republican congressman Tim Murphy (R-PA) said:
One of our big frustrations with insurance companies is they control the marketplace, they control what’s done, a lot of times doctors not making the decisions here.
Obama is pushing to establish more health care choices for the consumer by creating a national health insurance exchange “where Americans can one-stop shop for a health care plan, compare benefits and prices, and choose the plan that’s best for them, in the same way that Members of Congress and their families can” in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. “One of these options,” Obama said, “needs to be a public option that will give people a broader range of choices and inject competition into the health care market so that force waste out of the system and keep the insurance companies honest.”
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“We want choice! We want choice!”
Life is tough.
It’s tougher if you’re stupid.
August 10th, 2009 at 2:35 pmThe audience yelled, “We want choice! We want choice!”
_______________
Oh, so conservatives are pro-choice now?
Good to know…
August 10th, 2009 at 2:36 pmANGRY MOBS!!
August 10th, 2009 at 2:37 pmI still love the irony of GNOP shills screaming about “choice”.
Does that make them, um, “pro-choice” now?
PEACE
August 10th, 2009 at 2:37 pmI want monkey kidneys and dead baby juice, dammit!
August 10th, 2009 at 2:38 pmThe problem inherent in the private health insurance industry, being controlled by bean counters rather than physicians, is that the people who most desperately need coverage are the people who are least likely to
a) have their medical treatments be approved for coverage by their HMO, or
b) be accepted into an insurance program.
The government would not be running health care for the country. The goal of the public option is to provide more choice — people can stick with a private plan or opt for the federal plan. And the CBO analysts confirmed that a public option will not drive private companies out of the marketplace.
August 10th, 2009 at 2:38 pmThe Public Option is a choice.
August 10th, 2009 at 2:39 pmWhat flickin’ idiots…they don’t even know how they’ve been played…”we want choice, we want choice”…well then quit being Repiglicans first…and quit being so damned selfish second…then quit be so damned stupid third…you can’t even make a choice until those three things happen…
August 10th, 2009 at 2:39 pmMindless Obama Bashers
Emphasis on mindless…
August 10th, 2009 at 2:41 pmLividLib says:
I want monkey kidneys and dead baby juice, dammit!
August 10th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
**passing LividLib a cocktail**
August 10th, 2009 at 2:41 pmThis is a fundamental component of the conservative mindset: “I believe in choice, so long as the only choice available is the one that I choose to make”.
August 10th, 2009 at 2:41 pmAs is often the case with these angry town hall participants, their fervent complaints are grounded in a shallow understanding of the facts.
more like grounded in a DEEP MISunderstanding of the facts…
that damn librul media… keeping people stoopid…
August 10th, 2009 at 2:42 pmSometimes I think that only our trolls are that stupid, then a Republican gets on TV and shows that almost all of them are.
wow
August 10th, 2009 at 2:42 pm“why she and other Members of Congress won’t enroll in a public plan.”?
For the same reason they make more money than someone working at a McDonolds.
August 10th, 2009 at 2:45 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Deal with the devil:
August 10th, 2009 at 2:46 pmGive up thinking, get “freedom”
Idiocracy
Umm. There is a Congressman in PA. called Pat Murphy But He is a Democrat. I should know, I voted for him. Now there could be another Pat Murphy who’s a Republican, but I don’t think so.
August 10th, 2009 at 2:46 pmOne of our big frustrations with insurance companies is they control the marketplace, they control what’s done, a lot of times doctors not making the decisions here.
Insurance co’s being connected with the other corporate powers that be also, towards their benefit, control the media and control Congress
August 10th, 2009 at 2:49 pmtheir fervent complaints are grounded in a shallow understanding of the facts.
– - Their understanding of facts has all the depth of a parking lot puddle.
August 10th, 2009 at 2:50 pmThey couldn’t do that without regulations that benefit big corporations and kill off upstart competitors.
August 10th, 2009 at 2:50 pmWhat am I doing? I’ve got stuff to do.
August 10th, 2009 at 2:51 pmNo more posting!
Oops, me bad. The article states TIM Murphy not PAT Murphy. I apoligize.
August 10th, 2009 at 2:52 pmMore candidates for the Dumas award…
August 10th, 2009 at 2:53 pmLow information tools for the corporatists to feed off.
This comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Alejandro says: anything to kill the messenger because it can’t argue the issue
It could worse, he could be lying us into a war of choice bolstered by confessions obtained through illegal torture.
Or he could put his inexperienced but loyal friends in charge of things like disaster recovery, NASA, the EPA, the Surgeon Generals office and the entire Justice Dept.
Idiot
August 10th, 2009 at 2:55 pmmarwick says:
You think like Dr. Goebbels.
August 10th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
How so? Exactly.
August 10th, 2009 at 2:55 pmSo did Michael Moore…
:|
August 10th, 2009 at 2:56 pm**
#24,
a right wing blog?
thank you doctor g.
:)
August 10th, 2009 at 2:57 pmP.D. you and I are in the same district, served by Patrick Murphy. I’m not pleased with his Blue Dog records, nor his signing of the letter to Pelosi.
I do applaud him, though, for being out front on DADT repeal. He’s a good guy, just far too easily mislead in this healthcare debate.
Call his office if you haven’t already. They claim they are hearing far more from the other side than from us.
PEACE
August 10th, 2009 at 2:57 pmAIO says:
The Public Option is a choice.
But this would give competition to the for profit, unsavory, murderous actions of the corporate insurance groups. How could they ever continue to reap benefits by screwing the masses if a public option was in place? Heaven forbid if the huge profits stopped and the corporate powers that be could not continue their strength and power for take over.
August 10th, 2009 at 2:57 pm***
“We want choice! We want choice!”
now they’re pro-choice?
**
August 10th, 2009 at 3:00 pmIf the Publicans have their way, his health care plan won’t help millions of Americans who did pay their taxes, thousasnd will needlessly die who ares obese but could have been helped by the wellness provisions that were not enacted, and financed by coroporations who, in not paying their fair share of tucking faxes has us just about broke. What possibly could go wrong?
August 10th, 2009 at 3:02 pmSpencer’s mom@29, Hello my fellow Pennsylvanian! I have e-mailed and called all these guys. To no avail I’m afraid. What to you think about Specter? I hope Sestack kicks his but. My father is infuriated that Arlen switched from ‘R’ to ‘D’. Many Repugs think he is a turncoat.
August 10th, 2009 at 3:03 pm26 is correct.
August 10th, 2009 at 3:05 pmHow so?
Please don’t be a pussy and fail to follow through…
joe cantwell says:
***
“We want choice! We want choice!”
now they’re pro-choice?
**
August 10th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Strange how the talking points change… manipulated by corporate powers that be controlling the media using their righty Hate America mouth pieces.
As America would certainly favor the public option, the big insurance industry knows choice for them would be eliminated.
August 10th, 2009 at 3:13 pmSo… what choice are they talking about, that they say they want?
“We want the choice for the status quo to remain the same?”
August 10th, 2009 at 3:17 pmThe CHOICE these craven morons are advocating is whether to pay a 110% increase or a 150% increase in their health care premiums (for those who are insured) over the next year or two.
August 10th, 2009 at 3:19 pmmarwick says:
Meanwhile, how do Canadians feel about their socialized health care system?
August 10th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
On the whole, pretty damn good. Sure, there are a few cases that fall through the cracks, but on the whole wait times are short, outcomes are good, and Canadians are quite happy with their care.
That’s a whole lot better than the 50 million who have fallen through the cracks in the United States due to no health insurance whatsoever.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111721651
August 10th, 2009 at 3:19 pmWill this choice include :
co-pays
Prieums
deductables
Bankruptcy from medical bills
SO WHAT IS OUR CHOICE????
August 10th, 2009 at 3:19 pmI didn’t think Right-wingers actually said the word ‘Choice’ Remember Samantha Bee’s stint on the ‘Daily Show’? She went to a Repug convention or something and they couldn’t even bring themselves to say the word ‘Choice.’ Weird.
August 10th, 2009 at 3:21 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Is it even possible to get through to the willfully ignorant, when they react to facts like Superman to Kryptonite?
August 10th, 2009 at 3:23 pmCorrect me if I’m wrong, but:
1. How can a Congressperson (or anybody else) enroll in a “public plan” that doesn’t exist yet?
August 10th, 2009 at 3:31 pm2. Don’t members of Congress already receive “government” health care?
3. Isn’t offering a public plan giving MORE choice, not less?
4. Do these protesters have the intelligence of cabbage?
rollaire finally has his privacy.
August 10th, 2009 at 3:38 pmThe coward “marwick” is never able to back up his shit.
August 10th, 2009 at 3:42 pmzooey, their mo is predictable. Make assertions that they know they can’t prove, then demand that we prove them wrong and then cry about being mistreated.
August 10th, 2009 at 3:44 pmThis is basically the Troll Strategy.
August 10th, 2009 at 3:57 pmmarwick says
August 10th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Meanwhile, how do Canadians feel about their socialized health care system?
_____________________________________________________________
Why is this relevant? Nothing currently on the table is like the Canadian system (although if it was, I’d favor it over what we have now).
A better system to compare is what Switzerland has. Their system is a bit closer to what’s being proposed here (although there are still some differences) — in that they have government-administered health care that competes with private plans, and their citizens are free to choose what they want.
You and the rest of the naysayers constantly throw the Canadian system (or the British system) around as your main debate point, and I can only imagine the reason you do so is in an effort to convince people this is the system being discussed by our Congress. It’s not. So can you douse your burning pants and be honest, at least?
August 10th, 2009 at 3:59 pmA must watch video just mentioned on Ed Shultz, delayed broadcast…
The stories the corporate run media/insurance/Big Pharma/defense will not cover:
http://bravenewfilms.org/
August 10th, 2009 at 4:03 pmI am still stunned by this post found here on TP:
August 10th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Never met a Conservative that had -
Morals – Ethics – Compassion – Brains
They have all been -
Greedy – hateful – immoral – unethical – violent – ignorant – bigots
claim to be christian but don’t follow the words of Christ
and just parrot Reichwing ignorant hate speech.
So I expect the same at these Town hall meetings.
August 10th, 2009 at 4:17 pmThese people don’t want choice. Choice is complex and needs to be read over more than four pages.
They want someone to think for them, after they have fear shown in either a simple text or flash file.
How else did they get from point A. to point Special Interest massaging their minds?
These people are what P.T. Barnum spoke about with a sucker being born every minute. Except it is mostly angry, racist white people now.
August 10th, 2009 at 4:18 pmWill protesters show up at any of Rep. Mike Conaway’s (R-TX) health care open houses? I found a list:
http://conaway.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=140704
August 10th, 2009 at 4:39 pmHi Jeffboste
August 10th, 2009 at 4:39 pmWho do you consider the villain in the Health Care system?
Insurance companies
August 10th, 2009 at 4:42 pmGovernment
Doctors
Hospitals
Pharmaceutical companies
Jeff’s polls
“Yes, Jeff has all the answers”
What a smarmy felcher…
August 10th, 2009 at 4:49 pmAshamedly, I was unable to attend this hearing due to unforeseeable circumstances (work).
There should be a second one this month, though.
August 10th, 2009 at 4:51 pmwingnuts never let truth, facts, or reality stand in the way of their violent obsessions.
August 10th, 2009 at 4:52 pm.
Rupert Murdoch and the puppeteers at News Corp must be particularly proud of the thousands of little Manchurian candidates their hate-mongering “news” channel has created.
August 10th, 2009 at 4:54 pmPurple State says:
If you can make it to the second one, please let us know how it goes. Should be interesting…
August 10th, 2009 at 5:06 pmFact is funny, as shown in ‘America’s Finest News Source‘ recently, The Onion Infocus item:
Town Hall Meeting Gives Townspeople Chance To Say Stupid Things In Public, September 8, 2007 | Issue 43•36
August 10th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
This comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Dumber than ROCKS. Seriously, they believe CRAP from the talking heads and refuse to even look at the FACTS.
Idiots.
August 10th, 2009 at 6:39 pmDead baby juice freezes beautifully, btw. I just threw a chunk in the blender with a couple of shots of tequilla, fresh squeezed lime juice, and a dash of salt, and voila—a dead baby marguerita. Cheers!
August 10th, 2009 at 6:44 pm***
first thing we need to do is keep stupid trolls out of it like conservative guy.
or this guy, meet mr. orly taitz.
:)
August 10th, 2009 at 7:02 pmMaybe if we had healthcare reform, maybe my “24-yrs-experienced doctor” wouldn’t had ripped a plug from my fn leg, then said “oopsey I can’t use that plug, let me put it back and sew it up and try again.” The wounds looks like shit. It looks like Frankenstein or some shit you would see on the tv show Scarred. Stitches everywhere. doc sure didn’t tell me about the f0uck-up. I found it on my own. Surprised!
Here is where reform would help out:
My record would follow me. The Doctor would immediately have my record on file which would include text, video, pic etc.
Efficiently would more than pay for healthcare reform. Some of the saving would be in the repugs giving up our socialized healthcare.
August 10th, 2009 at 7:18 pmJane E. Schneider says:
Purple State says:
If you can make it to the second one, please let us know how it goes. Should be interesting…
It’s not as local as the first meeting, and it’s being held during a weeknight. Serves me right for not attending the first one, but perhaps I can get there.
August 10th, 2009 at 7:48 pmIt use to be a time in history where the msm use to draw a definite line between tabloid and real news.
People use to hide buying the trash (tabloids.)
repug women please do something about your water wings. Flappy arms holding overt racism signs are just toooo much.
August 10th, 2009 at 8:02 pmA negative two?! I’ve got the vapors. Oh noes.
August 10th, 2009 at 8:26 pmRepublican congressman Tim Murphy (R-PA) is/was a birther…
rachel just handed him his hypocritical azz…
“who me?”
August 10th, 2009 at 9:56 pmLet me get this straight…
These people are SO stupid, SO ignorant, and SO UNWILLING to even LISTEN to the facts, that they refuse to even allow this woman five minutes of floor time IN HER OWN DISTRICT, to EXPLAIN what the plan would entail?
Apparently, conservatives aren’t taught courtesy at a young age. Apparently, redneck mommy and redneck daddy taught redneck billy-bob and sally-may that the only way to talk to other people was to shout over the top of them, and threaten violence if the argument still wasn’t going their way.
These imbeciles have no clue as to what the public plan was about, yet, and I guarantee you this point, if you were to walk up and ask one of them what it’s about, I GUARANTEE YOU that you’d be given a bunch of nonsensical facts, straight from Limbaugh’s, O’Reilley’s or Hannity’s mouth.
“We want more choice!” BAHAHAHAH! Unbelievable. I’ll bet you morons just wish you thought of this plan first, and that’s the only reason you oppose it, simply because it came from the minds of liberals.
August 10th, 2009 at 10:09 pmHate to say it, but if congress wants this plan so bad, then they need to practice what they preach, and go on the plan just like everyone else. No more “Special” plans for them; they get care that most of the people they claim to represent have. Is that too unfair to ask for?
August 10th, 2009 at 10:54 pmI have a better idea…73…have Congress extend their plan to every American…
August 11th, 2009 at 2:00 amconservative guy says:
This comment has been voted down. Click to read.
The first thing we need is tort reform to keep the money grubbing trial lawyers like John Edwards out of it.
you conservatives have no answers but repeated talking points ad nauseam…How about we have some reform to keep the money grubbing health insurance companies out of it?
August 11th, 2009 at 2:10 amThe most ironic aspect of these town hall meetings is that the elected officials still naively believe that those who rudely interrupt the proceedings with shouted questions are actually interested in anything that the presenter has to say.
They need to set some ground rules on acceptable conduct before they even begin:
- interrupt someone else, and you will be kicked out
- scream and shout over the presenter’s answers, and you’re out
- start chanting to prevent anyone from speaking, and you’re out
Sure they’ll kick and scream and cry about their rights being denied, but let them do their ranting outside and not impede progress inside the building.
August 11th, 2009 at 3:51 amHowie Carr of WRKO out of Boston played this tape of Tsongus on his show yesterday and listening to the tape you could immediately tell the shouters were in the wrong and stupid! Oh, but Howie tried to spin it to mean that Tsongus was in the wrong for even suggesting that a public option will be a choice. It’s disgusting when semi-intelligent hosts jump on the Buffoon Bandwagon!
August 11th, 2009 at 7:23 amUh, It’s me again, your President. Now I’m real upset at all these mobs. I don’t want to point fingers or name names, but this health care mess was left to me by someone real evil who is no longer your President, and now I’m just trying to clean up a “Texas-sized” mess, see? What I can’t understand is how those same evil, un-American, backward thinking people convinced a whole bunch of otherwise fun loving SEIU workers to show up at all these town hall meetings and allow hateful Republican activists to slam their heads and faces into the fists of these hapless union employees, who after all, are only there to help. These downtrodden union folk are just there to support the change we know we all need. And here comes these neo-thugs (I believe that’s the popular term) who want to stand in the way of the necessary takeover of one sixth of our nation’s economy. They are trying to stand in the way of change, and we can’t allow anyone to stand in the way of change. Those union employees, who have no doubt lost their jobs because of you-know-who, are just going to these town hall meetings to support their hardworking benevolent Democrat Congressmen, and those hateful angy mobster Republicans keep putting themselves directly in front of the boots of these helpful SEUI workers while they are simply walking and then make up lies that they are the victims of attacks. Something has to be done.
August 11th, 2009 at 9:51 amThe leader of the health care debate has a 30 year history of smokes cigs. Perfect.
http://outfoxingkarlrove.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/obama_youth_013.jpg
August 11th, 2009 at 3:44 pm