Bucshon pushes stalled health care reform at town hall

April 21--Eighth District Congressman Dr. Larry Bucshon received a number of questions on health care during a very controlled town hall meeting at the North Elementary School in Washington Wednesday evening. There were 80 people on hand.

While many congressional meetings, since the first of the year, around the country have devolved into shouting matches between members of congress and their constituents, the event in Washington was kept under control by only taking written questions that received no follow-up, and by the presence of at least 10 city and county law enforcement officers.

The first question out of the box questioned Congressman Bucshon's support of the House bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare). The congressman said while there are elements of the law he supports, like keeping college students on their parent's health plans to age 26, and doing away with coverage denial for pre-existing conditions, he feels the overall law is not working.

"In my view a lot of the law needs to be repealed," said Congressman Bucshon. "We need to re-establish a private sector market place and do that in a way that is more private sector driven. If we don't do anything by 2018 people in the exchanges are not going to have any options. Doing nothing is not a good option."

The problem though is finding a consensus in Washington D.C. willing to fix what Republicans view as a broken system. "The problem is there is such a fundamental disagreement between the parties about the role of the federal government in health care that when we try to propose specific solutions we can't get people to agree. You have extremes. All the way from one side of the Republican Party that would get government out of health care altogether because it is not in the constitution, all the way to Senator Sanders who want the federal government to take over the whole system. Trying to find a consensus to make changes in the law is almost impossible."

The Congressman was also questioned on the Republican Health Care plan's tax cuts. Under Obamacare much of the discounts for insurance coverage and some of the funding for expansion of Medicaid were covered under taxes on higher income individuals. Those 20 different taxes would raise around $1-trillion over 10 years. Those taxes would have been repealed.

"I believe taxes should be as low as possible on the American people, on all incomes," said Bucshon. "It is unfortunate we continue to have that type of political rhetoric. The reality is when you add all these taxes and you put them in a health care program that is circling the drain. We are throwing our money away."

One element though that the Congressman says he will work to support is the Medicaid expansion in Indiana that was carried out in the Healthy Indiana Plan. That program has provided 300,000 low income Hoosiers with health care.

"I supported Governor (Mike) Pence making the expansion," said Bucshon. "I still support that because it is a state-based way to manage the Medicaid program. In Washington, I' trying to make sure that whatever we do with repeal and replace that Indiana will still have the opportunity to keep the Health Indiana Plan in the future."

Bucshon predicts that even though Congress couldn't come up with a solution to repeal and replace ACA the fight is not over. "We are going to have to make some more decisions," he said. "This is not the end of this."

He notes that one of the biggest weaknesses in the system is the failure to take on the high cost of health care. "The big problem we have is that the cost of health care is too high," said Bucshon. "We're chasing with insurance coverage a product that is too expensive in the first place."

The congressman said he is working on bills to try and increase price transparency for medical care and has begun meeting with drug companies to try and come up with ways to help bring down the cost of prescriptions.

"I'm working on ideas to try and bend the cost curve on the product, not just on health insurance but health care to get the costs down," he said. "The way we pay for health care is messed up in this country. The health care we get though is the best in the world."

Health care was not the only topic the public had questions about. In response to a question about the growing opiate addiction issue, the Congressman pointed out that congress has funded new programs that allow for more treatment.

"We put our money where our mouth is," said Bucshon. "We put a bunch of money into that, so the states and treatment centers can access federal dollars to get more people treatment."

A question that drew applause was one asking if he would support an independent investigation into the Trump Administrations ties to Russia. While Congressman Bucshon said he would support such an investigation he first wants the House and Senate Intelligence Committees to complete their work on the issue.

"I absolutely support an investigation," he said. "There is no doubt the Russian government tried to influence our election. That is not disputable."

The Congressman called the recent missile strikes in Syria a measured response to the proven use of chemical weapons on the civilian population. He said the action is one all Presidents have taken, but any further action needs to be done with the consent of Congress.

"Any further plans in Syria the President needs to come to Congress and we need to have a debate," said Bucshon. "Congress would like to see what our goals are in Syria. The United States has a lot of people in Syria. They didn't just arrive there. They've been there a long time. We have special forces and people advising the local forces."

Bucshon says he supports the building of a wall and a better policy on immigration. "The goal is to have a stronger physical barrier on the southern border and that I agree with," he said. "We need to look at it in a practical way and if it is doable we should advance that. That alone is not a strategy and I think everyone in this room recognizes that."

Congressman Bucshon also drew applause when he responded to a question about voting to withdraw funding from Planned Parenthood. "I voted to do that because Planned Parenthood provides 350,000 abortions a year and I am opposed to abortion," he said.

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