On Monday, August 31, 2009, in Richardson, Texas four North Texas Congressmen met for a Town Hall meeting in front of 2000+ enthusiastic citizens, most of whom came to show their disgust for the proposed Government Run Health Care plan of the Democrats.
The four Congressmen included Sam Johnson, Joe Barton, Jeb Hensarling and Pete Sessions. With these four Congressmen on the same stage were four people from different walks of life and different companies, all with solution ideas for our Health Care problems. Each one had their own experiences, including a true “Co-op” medical group, up and running; a leader physician of a full scale multi-physician practice that delivers high quality care at a lower cost; the CEO of Baylor Health Care System; and, a County Judge using a free discount prescription card. Their ideas offered solutions for rising costs, quality of Health Care, Access to Health Care and issues related to insurability.
There was no doubt that all four Congressmen are against the Health Insurance Reform Bill as proposed or in any form that it may take. Joe Barton pointed out that the version that left the Energy & Commerce committee, of which he is the ranking minority member, is not 1000 to 1100 pages, but instead, it is 1,500 pages – and they are not done yet. Yes, 1,500 pages! Joe went on to point out that, in his opinion, within seven years, private health insurance will not exist, no matter what Barack Obama says.
Make no mistake, the purpose of Obamacare is to move us to full-scale Government Run Health Care.
Below is a video window showing the first part of the meeting. You can also click here to view all parts of the Richardson Congressional town hall meeting in succession.
Congressman Joe Barton of the 6th District of Texas conducted an informative Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 in Kennedale, Texas (south of Fort Worth), targeting the proposed Health Insurance Reform Bill. He arrived to a serious welcome, as the people in attendance wanted answers. For answers they had the right Congressman in front of them for it was clear that Joe believes that “the truth shall set you free”.
An emphasis needs to be put on the word “informative”, for this Town Hall Meeting rose to a higher level of “informative” details than any other in the USA. The reason is that Congressman Barton is the senior ranking Republican member on the House Energy & Commerce committee, which is handling a large portion of the Health Insurance Reform Bill. When Republicans had control of the House, Congressman Barton was Chairman of this same committee. It is a powerful committee and he knows it inside and out. Most importantly, the Congressman has a passion for its business and specifically why the Health Insurance Reform Bill should be defeated.
Joe Barton was very relaxed and affable . . he was in his element and in control. He did not mince words . . all the while remaining calm. He was extremely believable with his demeanor and details, which have a way of silently communicating, “come . . follow me . . we have some work to get done”.
[As a side note, Congressman Joe Barton took an opportunity put everyone more at ease by letting us know that he is a Registered Professional Engineer. Everyone felt better for the fact that he is not an attorney.]
The Congressman had an excellent large poster as a visual aide depicting the new Health Insurance Reform Bill in a flow chart format, showing all the new elements, how they connected and where the existing elements fit in. The crowd could see from the beginning that it had to be Anti-Citizen . . as there were many more new elements than existing ones.
The Congressman gave the crowd a status report of the Reform Bill in the House and the Senate and then picked key new elements in the reform bill on the poster, showing how each connected with others and how each or in combination with other elements would affect our health care and more importantly our health care decisions, if put into place. He knew his “stuff”. What Joe Barton described WAS NOT PRETTY . . socialized medicine by any name at the top of the bill.
The Congressman made it clear that he is against the Health Insurance Reform Bill, no matter what form it takes. As far as he is concerned, it can not be fixed. As he said, “we have to defeat this bill . . we will defeat this bill”. The Republicans sponsored over 35 amendments, with only 5 being passed by the committee.
Bottom line: Americans with their doctors will NOT have the control over their health care decisions they enjoy today . . not by a long shot. Barack Obama’s Health Insurance Reform Plan will take over in a way never believed possible in this country. Socialized medicine, in any form, has not worked to the satisfaction of the majority of citizens in countries where it is employed and it will not work to the satisfaction of Americans. The worst part from what the Congressman pointed out element by element, is that Barack Obama’s plan is much WORSE than that described in the media, even the conservative media. It is that bad.
Joe Barton recommended in answering a question that people write and speak with everyone they can to get them to influence their congressman to work against the plan. He even pointed out that Chet Edwards’ district is just south of Kennedale and that would be a great place to get started.
Watch the first video in the series below, or click here to view Congressman Barton’s entire Kennedale Town Hall meeting
