Oct 5, 2009

By Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.)

I spent most of the August work period being proactive and reaching out to my constituents to hear their thoughts and ideas on health care reform.  Over those four weeks, I held several round table discussions in all corners of the 15th District with various local stakeholders in health care reform.  We had several telephone town hall meetings focusing on health care and I met with local community health care providers, toured their facilities and observed firsthand what they do on a daily basis to serve the needs of the uninsured and underinsured.  I met one-on-one with a number of constituents and I held a town hall meeting with over 2,500 in attendance.

So as part of my efforts to better understand the issue and what Congress is being asked to vote on, I’ve decided to take the president up on his offers to go over health care legislation with Members of Congress.  I spent a considerable amount of time during the August work period reading through H.R. 3200 line-by-line. I have a number of questions of my own that I think the President is probably reflecting on as well.  I’ve tabbed a number of these as you can see in the attached picture.

As the President was leaving the House chamber after his Sept. 9 address to a joint session of Congress, he was handed a stack of 35 health care reform bills that have been introduced by Republicans in the Congress.  Just moments before, President Obama had once again reiterated, “And I will continue to seek common ground in the weeks ahead.  If you come to me with a serious set of proposals, I will be there to listen.  My door is always open.”  Personally handing the President these proposals was just the sort of serious gesture the President was seeking.  I’m a cosponsor of some of those initiatives and I know that some have been approved by the House on occasion.

It is no secret that the House leadership is not interested in incorporating ideas from Republicans.  However, the President has extended an offer to work with us and I simply want to take him up on that offer and sit around the table to discuss the details of the proposals. I know Rep. Price of Georgia and Rep. Roe of Tennessee have asked for similar meetings.  I think there are many on my side of aisle who would like to have that sort of discussion and work to reach common ground on some areas to expand coverage.