Carney on health care: 'We need to do something'

SUNBURY - In similar fashion to Sen. Arlen Specter's town hall meeting in August, Tuesday's gathering - hosted by U.S. Rep. Christopher P. Carney, D-10 - was overwhelmingly focused upon health care.

Unlike the senator's meeting, the congressman faced a much calmer crowd at Northumberland County Courthouse, with few of the 130 people in attendance speaking out of turn, and no one screaming in anger.

"We are blessed to live in an area where we're not worried about people shouting down at everyone else. We respect each other," Carney told members of the media in President Judge Robert B. Sacavage's chamber after the meeting Tuesday afternoon.

Carney pointed out that town hall meetings are useful because it allows people to "hear other points of view." The meeting was Carney's fourth since Congress returned from their August recess, and the 35th since Carney was elected into office in 2007.

Carney, who laid his positions out to the crowd in the courthouse, spoke with for an hour, from 4 to 5 p.m.

In order for him to support a health-care reform bill, he explained, health insurance must be portable, meaning users must be able to take health insurance from job to job.

It must also be affordable, and it can't allow small business to be crushed by the costs.

Additionally, it must also cover pre-existing conditions.

"Everyone has a pre-existing condition that they may not have manifested themselves," he said. "We can't be in a situation where that (being denied coverage because of it) is allowed to happen."

Although criticized by several questioners for not supporting a public option, Carney said such a policy is not "a deal breaker one way or another."

"A public option might be necessary," he said. "We'll see what the final bill looks like."

Last week, the congressman said, a woman in Wyoming County stated that reform is wanted, but no one wants to pay for it.

"That's where we are in terms of this debate," he said. "We can't have that."

Still, health-care reform is necessary, he explained.

"Everyone in that room would agree that we need to do something," said Carney. "The question is, 'How do we get there?'"

People are confused

People were gathering in line for nearly two hours before anyone was allowed in the courthouse Tuesday afternoon, reported Roxanne Pauline, a volunteer leader with the Health Care for America Now group.

She and several other members of the organization had set up a tent across Market Street in Cameron Park. They were giving out stickers, signs and information concerning health-care reform.

"People are confused," she said, "and they don't have all the information."

Issues such as death panels and "allowing grandma to die," she said, are not in any health-care proposal and, "We're here to help the people understand it a little bit better."

When Ed Wueschinski, of Milton, told Carney he wasn't in favor of universal health care, the congressman asked him what would happen if he lost his health coverage.

"I would pay for it out of my pocket. Nobody pays for me. I pay for myself," he answered, receiving applause. "I don't rely on the government to take care of me."

In addition to asking about Carney's position on a public option, others were worried the government would fail at managing health care, or would resort to taking away Social Security or Medicare.

"They're not going to take away your Social Security. They're not going to take away your Medicare," said Jessie Bloom, of Williamsport. "And those programs are government-run programs, so what's the big beef?"

Her comments received applause as well.

No end in sight?

Despite President Barack Obama's months-long urging of quick action on health-care reform, Carney admitted he doesn't think the issue is anywhere near resolved.

"We're not at the end of this process by any stretch," he said. "It's probably closer to be beginning, to be honest."

Carney backs project

SUNBURY—“We’re going to build that damn road.”
  These were the words spoken confidently by U.S. Rep. Christopher P. Carney, D-10, when Northumberland County Commissioner Kurt Masser thanked the congressman for his persistent support of the Central Susquehanna Valley Transportation Project.
  “We need to keep pushing,” Masser said during the congressman’s town hall meeting at Northumberland County Courthouse Tuesday afternoon.
  The thruway is designed to alleviate traffic congestion on Route 147, and especially on  routes 11 and 15, which is a major shipping route for tractor trailer traffic.
  The half-billion dollar project was placed in hibernation for nine months before being taken out in April, partly due to Carney’s influence.
  When asked about it later, Carney told media the issue would be discussed
further once the highway bill is passed. That, he said, “will get the ball rolling.”

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