An aide for Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, gave a brief overview of the healthcare plan currently before Congress and responded to questions and concerns at the Marshalltown Medical & Surgical Center Tuesday.
Amy Campos, the aide, noted there are still a lot of things being debated and the country is not close to seeing a finished product on the bill.
"A lot of this is still going to be incredibly blank," she said.
She was asked a question from one person in attendance about who the winners and losers will be in the healthcare reform package. The concern raise was that the bill would favor trial lawyers wanting to sue for malpractice.
"I have no idea who the winner will be," she said. "Dialogue, you can't even say, has begun yet. ... They are looking for the patient to gain the most from this bill."
Campos said it was also a fine line how much government would get involved in the administration and dispensing of healthcare.
Despite the concerns, some did advocate for a new system.
Arlene McAtee, director of the Mid Iowa Community Action Agency, said the current system has a major flaw.
"There's no inherent logic to tying people's healthcare to their employer," she said. "We have all these people who are wandering outside the system because we tied it to the employer."
However, Ken Anderson, president of the Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce expressed another point of view.
"The reverse of that is you can't tie healthcare to government because they have no demonstrated ability to control costs," he said.
One physican, Dr. Ron Terrill, said he realizes he may be in the minority in the medical community, but did see a role for the government in the administration of healthcare.
"I hope that something moves out of all this," he said. "I'm willing to junk our private system because it sucks. It's terrible. It's awful."
President Barack Obama has asked Congress to send him a major healthcare reform package by the time it recesses in August.
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Contact Ken Black at 641-753-6611 or kblack@timesrepublican.com
