OETA Story on Congressman Tom Cole's Town Hall Meeting in Moore, Okla. aired on 08/11/2009

This story aried on OETA's The Oklahoma News Report on 08/11/2009 as reported by Jason Doyle and photojournalist Aaron Byrd. For more information, conact onr@oeta.tv or http://news.oeta.tv

The transcript of the story is below...

WITH ONLY STANDING ROOM LEFT IN THIS MOORE LIBRARY CONFERENCE ROOM, ABOUT 600 PEOPLE WERE READY TO HEAR FROM CONGRESSMAN TOM COLE AND TO LET HIM KNOW THEIR THOUGHTS ABOUT ISSUES FACING THE NATION. WHILE COLE ADDRESSED ISSUES LIKE THE BUDGET, ENERGY POLICY AND THE WARS IN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ, HE STILL RECOGNIZED HEALTH CARE REFORM WAS THE 800 POUND GORILLA IN THE ROOM.


"The other big item, which I suspect one or two of you are here to probably talk about is health care reform quote-unquote. But, let's talk about the health care bill because this is a real complex situation, I think it's clearly be the dominate issue in the fall when we come back."

WHILE THE NATIONAL MEDIA HAS SHOWCASED ROWDY CROWDS AT SIMILAR TOWN HALL MEETINGS, THIS ONE DID NOT GET OUT OF HAND. THAT DOES NOT MEAN THERE WAS A LACK OF INTENSE QUESTIONING.

THE CROWD WAS MAINLY OLDER OKLAHOMANS, BUT THE OPINIONS WERE DIVERSE.

BEFORE GETTING STARTED REPRESENTATIVE COLE ADDRESSED MUCH OF THE CONFUSION ABOUT THE HEALTH CARE REFORMS BEING CONSIDERED, POINTING TO THE FACT THAT THERE ISN'T JUST ONE BILL BEING CONSIDERED BY CONGRESS.

"We still haven't seen a bill from the Administration to the Congress, but the President has said these are sort of the principals I want and left it to Congress. That's one of the reasons, frankly, why the debate is so confused as to what's really out there. Cause there's not a single proposal from the Administration that Congress is now considering."

COLE OUTLINED THAT HE'S BASICALLY AGAINST A PUBLIC OPTION BUT UNDERSTANDS REFORM TO THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IS NEEDED.

HE ADVOCATES LEGAL CHANGES TO LIMIT POSSIBLE FRIVILOUS LAWSUITS AS WELL AS CREATING A NATIONAL MARKETPLACE FOR PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE.


"You can buy car insurance anyplace in America that you think is a good deal for you. You can't do that with health care. Can't really get beyond your state."

HE FEELS A NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE MARKETPLACE WILL INCREASE COMPETITION AND HELP TO LOWER THE COST TO THE CONSUMER.

COLE SPENT THE BETTER PART OF AN HOUR LISTENING TO QUESTIONS AND STATEMENTS FROM THE CROWD...MOSTLY FOCUSED ON HEALTH CARE REFORM.

FROM MOORE...JASON DOYLE...THE OKLAHOMA NEWS REPORT.

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