Moran town hall brings health care questions

July 08--SUBLETTE -- U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Manhattan, held the floor in the heart of the Haskell County Courthouse courtroom used for a town hall Friday and was sharing his views on national health care legislation when late arrival Lynn Kinsey took a seat in the area normally reserved for attorneys and clients.

Accompanying Kinsey, of rural Cimarron, was her mother, Sharon Smith, Dodge City, and Kinsey's three children, ages 13, 11 and 9. Kinsey, who was diagnosed with cancer last fall had to wait until January for surgery. Her children and husband all have health concerns, and Kinsey brought opinions about the affordability and accessibility to health care.

One man in the audience said he doesn't hear people on Medicare complain, so why doesn't the U.S. offer Medicare for all?

If you start limiting the amount of money going to a health care provider and say, "'This is the one way, and this is the one price,'" people won't choose a career in medicine, Moran said.

"That doesn't happen," Kinsey said.

When Kinsey moved to Germany where she lived for six years, her mother had worried about health care abroad for her daughter. But it was better there than in the U.S., Kinsey found. It was affordable, and she had a choice of doctors and hospitals, she said, of a universal health care system.

Moran said he continues to worry about "big government solutions" and the one-size-fits-all approach.

Kinsey also mentioned the wealthy corporate influence of the Kochs, Robert Mercer and Walmart, and said taxpayer dollars ought to work for the people.

The first thing we ought to do is drive out the unnecessary costs in the health care industry, Moran said.

Kinsey returned to uneven access to medical care. This is a moral question, she said.

Moran agreed with that point.

Changing morals can happen quickly, she said.

"Well, thanks for reminding me," he said.

The Sublette stop did not draw the crowd or national media presence that flocked to Moran's town hall Wednesday in Palco, but it was standing room only in the Haskell County Courthouse courtroom. A Senate vote on health care looms, and the Republican leadership is scrambling to enlist support. Moran criticized the Affordable Care Act and the Senate's draft of a substitute plan that since has been pulled.

Moran favors a system that doesn't deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions; doesn't punish states such as Kansas that did not expand Medicaid; does not result in big reductions in Medicaid which would hurt rural hospitals; does not have high co-payments and deductibles; and gives options for employers.

"It's unfair how it would treat a place like Kansas," Moran said of the Senate plan. Moran said he wished the Senate would have spent a little more time focusing on how to reduce the cost of health care rather than concentrate on who pays for it, he said.

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