Frank Pushes Health Care Reform Before Hostile Crowd

By Fred Thys (@fredthys)
Aug 19, 2009, 12:01 AM
14 Comments

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., right, is presented with literature as he enters a senior center in Dartmouth on Tuesday. (AP)

DARTMOUTH, Mass. — Rep. Barney Frank lashed out at protester who held a poster depicting President Obama with a Hitler-style mustache during a heated town hall meeting on federal health care reform.

“On what planet do you spend most of your time?” Frank asked the woman, who had stepped up to the podium at a southeastern Massachusetts senior center to ask why Frank supports what she called a Nazi policy.

“Ma’am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table. I have no interest in doing it,” Frank replied.

Frank, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, sought to assure more than 500 people attending the rowdy meeting that the average taxpayer wouldn’t be hurt by plans currently under consideration in Congress.

Some of those attending the meeting organized by the Democratic Town Committee of Dartmouth shouted and booed as Frank and others addressed the crowd.

At one point, Frank asked the crowd: “Which one of you wants to yell next?”

One topic asked of Frank was whether undocumented residents would get coverage under the health insurance bill passed by the House.

“Illegal aliens are specifically excluded from any assistance in the bill,” Frank said.

In an attempt to dispel the protesters’ disbelief, Frank went on to read the exclusion provision. Some of the people who told Frank they oppose expanding health insurance explained that they did so even though they themselves would benefit, but did not want to do so at the expense of taxpayers.

Tyler Dawbin of Easton said he lost his job and is worried he will lose his health insurance, but he still does not support changes proposed in Congress.

“My situation is my own. I walked into it. I’m responsible for it. Why would I obligate the people who are surrounding me in this room right now to pay for my personal stress?” Dawbin said, to rising cheers from the audience.

Frank told people at the meeting that some money for health care changes could come from pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq by the end of 2011.

Several people wanted to know how the government would pay for the reforms without worsening a growing federal budget deficit.

At least two dozen protesters gathered in small groups outside, handing out pamphlets and holding signs criticizing the overhaul, Mr. Obama and Frank. Some of the posters read: “It’s the economy stupid, stop the spending” and “Healthcare reform yes, government takeover, no. Tort Reform Now”

Audrey Steele, 82, from New Bedford, said she does not want the government to get involved with health care because “they just make a mess of everything,” referring to the $700 billion bailout of financial institutions that was used to pay for lavish conferences and hefty executive compensation.

Others at Tuesday’s meeting were more supportive of reform.

Dr. Sheila Levitt, a physician from Newton, said she hoped for changes that would support primary care physicians who aren’t paid as much as specialists. She said some of the rowdy critics at Tuesday’s meeting appeared to be using the same “talking points” as those who showed up at similar meetings around the country.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Judy Terbrack

The American people have always been generous to others during a catastrophe, Katrina being a recent example. The loss of health insurance with the loss of a job seems to me a pretty big catastrophe. Why shouldn’t we try to prevent that particular catastrophe?
Ayanna McKinnon

I hope that Rep. Frank’s approach to these nonsensical arguments has helped to get through to those who seem bent on perpetuating false information. It seems as though the President’s rational response is not making much headway- and there is too much at stake for us to have to compromise in order to appease those with such ignorant, narrow minded views. Comparing Obama to Hitler?!? I agree with Frank- on what planet??? There are many of us who support this health care initiative, but apparently our “sound bites” just aren’t as exciting!
Ren Knopf

I was delighted to hear Barney Frank pushing back during his Dartmouth Town Hall meeting, cum shout fest.When will it dawn on these 65+ year-olds – the 82-year Dartmouth woman who ‘does not want the government to get involved with health care because “they just make a mess of everything’ being a case in point – where their Medicare comes from? And the Fascist/Socialist shibboleths that are throw out so freely as to be empty of real meaning, only incendiary ignorance – the two are polar opposites after all – were used back in 1948 against Social Security and Truman (bet these folks don’t want the “guv’ment” messing with that either). Now that we’re “rushing” health care (Kennedy? Johnson? Clinton? who are they?), lies,loudness and deliberate party-line misrepresentation threaten real discourse, real reform. I dare Chuck Grassley to look Ted Kennedy in the eye. When I’m not feeling angry or disgusted over the course of this “discourse,” I am flat-out embarrassed.
http://www.bluealvarez.com Jen

Dawbin’s quote is so depressing. To me it sounds indicative of the larger problem – many people don’t understand that to take care of each other makes all of our lives that much richer and easier. Without overcoming the mentality of hyper-individualism this country is suffering from, public health reform and many other useful programs will be perpetually stalled.
Wai

Why Americans can’t see profiteering of medical insurance is morally and logically wrong? Insurance is supposed to pool the resource to mitigate the health risk we all face. If we let private corporations to siphon from this pool, that only means there is less resource available for each individual insured. Medical insurance is one of few area economical of scale makes sense, not wall mart.
Janet Smith

Why do people keep voting for this guy? How much of a bigge loser can there be in Congress than this guy?
dano

Frank is a typical pompous arrogant Marxist jerk. He’s just so sure that he knows what’s best for all of whether we like it or not,liberty be damned! Time for working class Democrats to turn their backs on this imbecile.
http://www.bwglaw.com David White

It is disappointing that opponents to the effort to reform health insurance and health care have nothing to offer except outlandish and unfounded criticism and disruptive and threatening tactics. How much more worthy their comments would be if there was a constructive thought among them. But there is not.

Contrast that with Representative Frank, who understands the bill and is seeking, along with the Democrats, a way to improve health care in America. Improve, that’s good.

If you spend fifteen minutes analyzing these issues, you will see that Americans pay more and get less than so many other developed nations. It’s not hard to figure out why (and it’s not tort reform if that was your guess).

Keep up the good work Mr. Frank. Thank you.
Jim

What you won’t hear on the mainstream news is that the “protestors” with the picture of President Obama were really planted there. They were with a small group that backs Linden Larouche.

It’s fun to see Barney follow the President by taking questions from planted members of the audience.

That is something to be disgusted about.
jim

“Apparently having a filibuster-proof majority, a 40-seat advantage in the House, and a president who was once really popular isn’t enough,” Spain said in a statement. “Maybe if people actually liked the bill, Democrats’ wouldn’t have such a tough time whipping up bipartisan votes, much less vulnerable Democrats within their own party.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26250.html#ixzz0Oez9gsQ2
Mark Durant

I’ve got a really good idea! Why don’t we get Government out of the fire and police business (crikey, Government monitoring us with a police department, how horrifying) and force people to insure for it instead. No insurance = no service. We could have fire and police departments competing with each other for business, that should improve service. After all, competition is good for everything isn’t it?! Of course, this is nonsense. The current system is that there is no system. A choice is not a choice if you can’t afford the options. Many countries have public-funded health systems and the world still turns. People can even pay to get something else if they don’t like what they are offered. I would rather an organisation which is supposed to have my interests at heart makes decisions about coverage in treating my life-threatening condition rather than some stuffed shirt in a booth at an insurance company. Opponents need to turn down the rhetoric, stop calling people Marxist and Nazis and deal with facts – rather than the current nonsense spread by people who should no better and demean their office by repeating it. Example: Palin? Death panels? What?!
Paul

Barney Frank is one of the most courageous and important politicians that I know of. He’s a fighter, and I totally respect him. Unfortunately the talk-radio induced zombies have been fed a heap of fiery rhetoric that, although goes against their own personal interests, has got them eating and spewing brimstone. We need more folks, like Mr Frank, who will show these lies, fears, and stupid convoluted self-destructive arguments for what they are. I personally find it unbelievable, that the Bush-mistakes of throwing money and financial execs to be a “shouting” point against Obama’s healthcare reforms. Keep it up Mr Frank. Put that mirror in the faces of the non-thinking zombies. There is a truism, “All cockroaches hate light;” bravo for being brave enough to shed a blunt dose of light on this subject.
http://wbur.org (Mr.) jean morelle

Congratulations to Rep. Frank for standing up to the Dartmouth uninformed and discourteous rabble rousers.
Lynne Weiss

The idea that its each person for herself when it comes to health care is short sighted. We all benefit from a healthy population. There’s the obvious problem of contagious disease, but beyond that, there is the simple matter of shared quality of life, economic productivity, and decreased social problems (crime, mental illness, etc.) Barney Frank is a tremendous representative of our state. We are lucky in Massachusetts to have him, as well as my own rep, Ed Markey.