Mickey Goldberg and Sen. Ben Cardin had something in common Monday night.

Goldberg, an Owings Mills resident, came out to support a federal effort to reform the health insurance system in the United States.

“Somebody has to stand up to these bozos,” Goldberg said, adding that she believes some people opposing plans for reform were “hate baiting.”

“I’ve seen the effects of our dysfunctional health care system every day, several times a day,” said Goldberg, who is a disabilities evaluator for the state.

An estimated 1,500 people gathered near the Towson University Arts Building for Cardin’s town hall-style meeting on health care. Seating inside was limited so only about 500 were allowed inside to hear Cardin speak. The rest stood along the road waiving signs and shouting slogans at passing cars and even each other.

The large majority of the crowd was clearly opposed to reform efforts.

Goldberg stood in the middle of the opposition rather than with about 200 pro-reform counter-protesters, mostly members of unions, who were several hundred feet down the road. She engaged in loud give-and-takes with several people around her.

Cardin came to Towson University to host his town hall meeting and face a crowd inside that largely opposed what they perceive is a federal intrusion into private insurance health care.

Cardin said he “believes in town hall meetings” — even at a time when some members of Congress are holding telephone town hall meetings to exert more control over who speaks and when.

He said he did not see those who are vociferously protesting the proposed reforms as “un-American,” a reference to an opinion piece by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer published Monday in USA Today.

There is not just one legislative proposal to changes to the health insurance industry. There are four different bills before congressional committees.

Inside the auditorium, the crowd was mostly opposed to the reform proposals. Cardin told those at the meeting that he would not support a bill that would decrease benefits to the federal Medicare program or was not “revenue neutral” — meaning that he expected there would be a plan to pay for reforms, which one early estimate said could cost $1 trillion.

“I wont support a plan that cuts benefits to the elderly or terminally ill,” Cardin said. “I won’t do it.”

Cardin took about 20 unscreened questions from the audience; most from people who appeared to oppose reform efforts. At the end of the meeting there were still about 40 people waiting to ask questions.

Richard Vatz, a professor of rhetoric at the university, asked Cardin the first of the questions that was not pre-submitted.

Vatz said he believes one argument against a federal reform is that some proposals cover what he called "non-catastrophic health care concerns, which costs billinos and billions of dollars," such as one requirement to cover marriage counseling.

"How can you and Democrats support such a costly and irresponsible national health care insurance?" Vatz asked.

"We're seeking one simple goal and that's parity between mental illmess and other types of physical illness," Cardin replied. "We think it's wrong to discriminate against mental illness."

But Vatz countered, "If I see a psychiatrist because my life isn't going well and I'm not happy, the psychiatrist can say 'Ah-ha, he has adjustment disorder' and you'll be covering that as a medical disorder and it's not a medical disorder."

In response to one question about tort reform, Cardin said he would be opposed to making that part of an overall health insurance reform effort.

But when asked if he would support a bill that provided insurance benefits to illegal immigrants, Cardin would only say “that’s not part of any of the bills.”

In both instances, the questioners were met with prolonged, shouted support, while the response to Cardin’s answers was more subdued. Early on, Cardin drew the ire of some in the crowd.

“I know some of you don’t want me to mention the facts, but listen to the facts,” he said in response to one early question.

Several times during the meeting, a handful of people called out to Cardin, interrupting his presentation. During one such exchange, Cardin told the crowd: “I know a lot of your minds are already made up.”

“So is yours!” an unidentified man in the audience yelled back.

At other times, some people in the crowd booed or jeered Cardin’s comments. The senator was ultimately able to make all his points. He noted that a World Health Organization study places the United States 37th in the world in terms of health care.

On Tuesday, speaking on WBAL-AM, Cardin said he felt the town hall meeting was a success in terms of getting information out to constituents and hearing their concerns. And he said those speaking out at the meeting were part of the process.

“This is part of our Democratic system,” he said. “Last night we were able to, I think, have an exchange of views. I think it was helpful to the process.”

Cardin will host another town hall meeting at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Hagerstown Community College.

This story has been updated. For more on the town hall meeting, go to political editor Bryan P. Sears' blog, Strange Bedfellows, here.  And for a Tweet-by-Tweet account of the town hall meeting, go to Sears' Twitter page, here.

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user comments (1)

user davidmarks1 says...

In 2004, I was the Chief of Staff at the Maryland Department of Transportation. The state had scheduled a public meeting on improvements to Belair Road. The Northeast Democratic Club had recently been formed by a hyperpartisan activist, Dennis Eckard, as well as Democratic elected officials in the area. This club spread misinformation about the project and flooded the meeting with hundreds of angry protestors who had been wrongly told that median strips were definitely being installed along the road. It was the angriest meeting I have ever attended. It was a deliberate attempt to embarrass the Republican governor, Bob Ehrlich. Not to be outdone, but one of the speakers, Councilman Vince Gardina, took time from his duties to send letters to the newspapers attacking me personally. So I don't ever want to hear Democratic politicians griping that it's only Republicans who cry loudly at town hall meetings.

Posted 5:15 PM, 08.12.09

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