Lee Terry in the News :: August 26, 2009

Hundreds Talk Health Care At Millard North

Town Hall Meeting Called By Rep. Lee Terry Draws 800

KETV

POSTED: 8:26 am CDT August 26, 2009
UPDATED: 8:37 am CDT August 26, 2009

OMAHA, Neb. -- A packed house at Millard North High School spent Tuesday evening talking health care.

 

An estimated 800 people attended a town hall meeting called by U.S. Rep. Lee Terry. Many had to listen to the debate outside the auditorium.

 

Sarah Suiter was in the crowd. She suffers from multiple sclerosis. She said public health care should not be an option.

 

“I am just an American that is fighting for what I believe in. I have two children and I want them to have freedom. I don’t want it taken away,” she said.

 

Suiter said society has become sedentary, and that’s why privatized health care should persist.

 

“The problem is our society has become soft and it’s asleep,” she said.

 

But some, like Donald Kuhns, aren’t optimistic about what we already have.

 

Kuhns asked Terry, “What is your plan supposed to do for people that have health insurance but are getting robbed blind by it?”

 

Kuhns said his medical coverage costs too much as it is, and that’s why he supports a public option.

 

“The only way we can lower costs is either by allowing the government to compete with the health care monopolies we have now, or actually breaking up those monopolies,” he said.

 

Terry said critics argue the public option would cost Americans more in the long run in terms of the national debt.

 

But Terry said he heard one message loud and clear.

 

“A big part of what I heard is people want options, they want different choices and not just a one-size-fits-all,” he said.

 

The congressman said he hopes the House will vote on some sort of variation to the current bill by mid-September.