OAKDALE — There were a few boos and yells, but the mood was mostly affirming and civil in Friday afternoon's town hall meeting on health care reform, hosted by Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa.
More than 500 people attended the event at the Oakdale Community Center.
Nearly 100 people, ranging from teenagers to people in their 80s and on both sides of the issue, asked questions or made comments in the 2½-hour session.
Radanovich opened the meeting by explaining proposed bills in the House and Senate, but added that they are changing all the time. He said Democratic-backed bills will lead to large increases in taxes and the federal deficit, eventually eliminate many private insurance plans, and cut Medicare and Medicaid benefits.
Congress instead should focus, he said, on insurance reform, making insurance affordable and portable across state lines, and work on insurance for catastrophic care and the poor.
"Health care is incredibly important," he said. "Your views need to be on the table."
Joel Chase, 43, of Oakdale, said he decided to attend because "I've never been to a town hall meeting before. I thought I'd do my civic duty and come out."
The former cargo plane pilot was jobless for much of this year. Chase said he is a conservative who is concerned about attempts to nationalize health care.
"I want to know what they're going to do to stop government takeover or control of the health care system," he said.
One woman, who identified herself as a college instructor, said one of her students wants to know how her family can financially support their 6-year-old son, who is deaf and unable to receive California's Healthy Families medical care.
A college student asked what impact the cost of national health care will have on rising education costs, which have been coupled with decreasing financial aid.
"Your generation has special challenges not encountered by any other generation since World War II," Radanovich acknowledged.
One man who said he works at a Turlock skilled nursing facility said cuts to Medicare and Medicaid programs already have hurt seniors there, and that further cuts in proposed health care legislation will put more elderly patients at risk.
"What's going to ensure that seniors' needs are going to be cared for when they need it?" he asked.
But one senior citizen in a T-shirt that read "Health care not warfare" told Radanovich, "We can take care of our people here if we're not in these military actions halfway around the world. What can I do to convince you that you're wrong?"
Dr. Delmar Tonge, a Modesto physician, agreed that "there are problems in medical care." But he added, "If a person comes in with a broken leg, don't schedule him for a cardiac transplant," implying that proposed national health care is as dramatic a move.
Radanovich several times answered opponents by saying he favors the free market approach to reducing health care costs.
One woman took issue with that: "Health care profits are outrageous. How can we deal with these outrageous profits caused by the free market?"
Janel Groenewoud, 23, said she "got kicked off of my parents' health insurance policy." But she opposes the proposed plans.
"How can the government tell me, 'You must be on health insurance?' " she asked. "I take vitamins. I exercise. If I have to go to the doctor, I pay, at the most, $100. I choose not to (buy insurance) because it's not economical for me."
She added that her parents immigrated to this country from the Netherlands "where they have universal health care."
With tears, Groenewoud told of an elderly grandmother who is afraid of being euthanized if she is hospitalized and an aunt who has a heart tumor. "She's been told she is too old for treatment — and she's only 50. You think they're not going to do that here, but they will. It will happen. It will," she cried.
Applause broke out several times, as when a man said, "It seems immoral for us to vote for things we like and stick the bill on those who aren't even born."
The biggest burst of applause, and laughter, came when a man complimented Radanovich.
"Thank you for being able to stand up for the last two hours without a teleprompter," the man said.
On the Net: Find more about Rep. George Radanovich's position on health care at www.radanovich. house.gov.
Bee staff writer Sue Nowicki can be reached at 578-2012 or snowicki@modbee.com.
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