Hall Talks Health Care in the Kitchen

SOMERS—Shortly before midnight on Saturday, Representative John Hall voted for the overhaul of health care and the “government option” being considered by the House of Representatives. The massive restructuring of American health-care narrowly passed, 220-215. By Monday morning, Hall set out to explain the bill and his vote to his 19th district constituents. In a small kitchen in Somers, John Hall met with Robert Jaffe, 54, and his son Isaac, 22. Jaffe is the president and founder of Consensus Systems Technologies, a transportation engineering company with five employees.

Courting in the Kitchen: Congressman John Hall (D-NY19), right, meets with Somers residents Robert Jaffe, center, and his son, Isaac, left, at the first of Hall’s new Kitchen Table discussions with constituents. MICHAeL BReNDAN DOUgHeRTY Jaffe said his company’s health insurance premiums have risen nearly 20 percent in the past year. “This is unsustainable,” said Jaffe, “and it is a downward force on the salaries of my employees.”

“I promised to vote for any bill that would get us closer to universal coverage,” said Hall, “and while this bill is not perfect, it moves us forward … Governing is about finding the consensus and moving forward.”

The quiet counter top setting was a marked contrast to the occasionally rambunctious town hall events this summer, where Hall found himself subjected to hostile audiences and political rivals. There was no such hostile audience at the kitchen table, where Hall was alone with the Jaffes and the press. The congressman drilled into the details of the plan, saying that preventative care would not require co-pays, that states could set up medical review boards to limit the number of frivolous malpractice lawsuits, and that the federal government would set up a health care exchange to increase competition. Hall delved into the more controversial parts of the debate including the pubic option and coverage of abortion.

“The public option is an important piece of this puzzle to provide competition,” Hall said. The Congressman also said that a proposal that would require insurance companies to spend 85 percent of their revenue on medical care would prevent abuse. “I know a lot of industries that would like a guaranteed 15 percent profit,” Hall said.

Hall recounted the passage of the Stupak amendment which would strengthen restrictions on federal funds, and prevent the federal-government-run health exchange from accepting insurance plans that cover abortion. Hall said that he had supported the earlier restrictions that mimicked the Hyde Amendment, not the Stupak amendment. “But I voted for the final bill because it represented a workable compromise,” Hall explained. The U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops pressed for the Stupak amendment, charging earlier versions of the health care reform bill with using an accounting trick to cover abortions in the federal health care exchange.

Jaffe said that the new legislation would impose new incentives on insurance companies to provide preventative care. “They’re not going to be able to exclude people, so they’re going to have to manage their costs another way,” said Jaffe, “There will be all sorts of pressure to educate people … to basically get people healthier.”

Hall read from a long list of medical, civic, and religious groups that supported health care reform, including the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism and the American Academy of Opthalmology. “I know one ophthalmologist from this area who doesn’t support it,” Hall joked, referring to Nan Hayworth, who is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge John Hall for his Congressional seat in 2010.

“Congressman Hall has endorsed Speaker Pelosi’s dangerous prescription for America’s health care,” said Nan Hayworth, the Mt. Kisco ophthalmologist who intends to run for Congress. “This plan will put an inefficient government bureaucracy in charge of our medical care, hurt seniors who rely on Medicare, stifle the medical innovation that makes American medicine the best in the world, and do nothing about the enormous cost of defensive medicine.”

Hayworth has released an alternative plan on her campaign Web site, which includes lifting restrictions that prevent insurance companies from selling their plans across state lines, tax incentives, and tort reform to reduce the cost of liability litigation.”

Assemblyman Greg Ball, who is also running to take Hall’s seat, criticized the congressman: “Hall seems committed to being a rubber stamp to Pelosi even when it’s in direct contrast to his district and larger constituency. Just as with the tax and trade bill, I’m disappointed he didn’t show independent leadership and do the right thing.”

Hall said he would not speculate on what features of the proposed health care reform would make it into the Senate bill. But he singled out Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, who has threatened to filibuster any health care bill that includes a public option. “I think they should make him stand up there and speak all night, and explain why he would deny Americans the same kind of care he receives himself,” said Hall. The Congressman later added that “His [Lieberman’s] position may have something to do with the health insurers who are located in his state.”

Hall repeated his concern that some businesses “in the middle” may be hurt by tax increases, though he hastened to add that “our district’s largest employer, IBM, was happy they would be able to keep their current level of coverage.”