Ryan Holds Town Hall On Health Care Reform
Congressman Holding Several Town Hall Meetings
Updated: 7:46 pm CDT August 26,2009
JANESVILLE, Wis. -- U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan held a town hall meeting on health care reform in Janesville Wednesday.The Republican from Janesville is holding a series of town hall meetings on health care reform across his district, and the latest was held at Janesville's Craig High School auditorium Wednesday evening.Ryan said he is in support of a health care system that covers all Americans but does not support the legislation currently being proposed.After Ryan laid out how he feels the bill would impact residents in his district, those residents took the floor."There are problems in health care that have to be fixed. Nobody should deny that," said Ryan during his presentation.The fifth and final stop of the day for Ryan's town hall meeting tour met its largest crowed in Janesville. "Thank you for your presentation, even though we all recognize it is slanted. You've got your prospective. I'm sure (U.S. Rep.) Tammy Baldwin would have a different one," said the first resident to address Ryan.Residents filled the auditorium Wednesday, with only few in support of the current health reform bill."How do we stop this so we can stop, take a breath, look it over? Right now, it's like a train wreck," said another resident.Most were skeptical of a bill they feel is being rushed without careful consideration of how their health care will be affected."My biggest problem with this reform is I can't think of a program that the government has started, that the costs really turned out to be what they were," said a resident."Why is it that the government is making this decision for us instead of being brought as a vote for all of America to have their voices heard?" asked another woman in the audience.Ryan said that it's through meetings like these that residents' voices are heard and their opinions are taken back to Washington.Many attending the meeting said they agreed that health care has to change so everyone can afford it."We can't afford to keep paying these insurance companies so that they can pay their people hundreds of thousands of dollars that we never get to see. We don't make that kind of money around here. What are we going to do about that?" asked another woman.Overall, it was a much louder group than Ryan's earlier meetings Wednesday, but it was nothing near what has been seen in other parts of the country, WISC-TV reported.Ryan will continue his town hall listening sessions in the district Thursday and Monday.
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