Follow tonight's health care meeting with Rep. Bobby Scott

Town hall wraps up, check later for full story - 9:02 p.m.

Rep. Bobby Scott has concluded his town hall meeting in Newport News.

Scott said, “Let me thank each and every one of you. Everyone has seen the other town hall meetings, and I think we have distinguished ourselves.

“We’re going to continue working on health care…and we’re going to try to do the best we can to try to fix it.”

“You’ve got our support,” one man then said.

Check PilotOnline.com and Wednesday’s Virginian-Pilot for a story about the town hall by reporter Bill Bartel.

On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner is hosting a town hall meeting in Fredericksburg, his office said. Scott will hold another town hall on health care on Thursday in Richmond.

Distrust of government, Congress - 8:35 p.m.

Scott has taken an earful from several people at this meeting.

One woman, who said she had lost faith in both Republicans and Democrats, said she was paying closer attention to government.

“I’m going to be checking to see what people are voting for, I’m going to be reading bills, I want to know every bit of pork that’s in there,” she said.

“This is not directed at just you. It’s directed at every one of you.”

Another man told Scott he had read the bill twice and said things Scott said were in the bill were not in it.

Scott wasn’t about to debate him.

“If you don’t believe what I said, fine,” the congressman said. “I’m going to make as accurate a presentation as I can of what’s in the bill.”

Scott refutes woman who says government health care is unconstitutional - 8:19 p.m.

A nurse from Portsmouth spoke and said nothing in the Constitution “gives Americans a right to free health care, or free anything.”

One man, upset by her comment, began to yell. A Newport News police officer told him to stop and then had a chat with him.

The woman continued, asking Scott, “Can you explain to me why the Congress feels why we as Americans, all of us in this room, should bear the cost of funding health care as if it was a right?

“Why does Congress feel that health care is a right? …Is that not called socialism?”

There was loud applause.

Scott produced a copy of the Constitution.

Indeed, he said, Article I, Section 8 gives Congress the power to lay and collect taxes, pay debts and “provide for the general welfare of the United States.”

The applause for Scott’s viewpoint was louder, showing those in favor of government involvement in health care are in a majority -- in this room at least.

“And to the extent that any of this is unconstitutional, so is Medicare,” Scott added.

Can we trust the federal government to run a program right? - 8:02 p.m.

One speaker, age 72, drew loud applause expressing some skepticism of the federal government’s ability to run a program the right way. He works in the automotive industry and cited the Obama Administration’s Cash for Clunkers program.

“I would like to have it for everybody,” the man said of health insurance. “But how is it going to be paid for? Who’s going to administer it? Who’s going to ensure that there’s going to be checks and balances?

“I’m just afraid that you’re setting us up for a big, big disaster," he told Scott.

Another speaker who disagreed with Scott thanked him for having the courage to hold a town hall.

“We’ve all watched television, and I think we all can acknowledge that we’re having a much better town hall meeting,” Scott said, referring to some congressional members’ town halls that grew unruly when angry speakers began yelling.

One man compares health reform plans to genocide - 7:48 p.m.

Remember political activist and many-time presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche?

A man who said he was a LaRouche follower spoke out against Democratic plans to reform health care.

His comments were the type of scare tactic the White House has been trying to combat.

“This is a plan to restrict care, which will kill people,” the man said. “We can’t have a president who’s going to push a Hitler policy. I suggest you tell the president to stop committing political suicide.”

A handful of people applauded.

Things remain lively here. A few interruptions, a lot of applause and some humor.

When one man began a long political rant, he was asked to get back on point. “I’m on the point,” he said, drawing howls of laughter from the audience.

Scott voices support for public option - 7:40 p.m.

This is a lively crowd and Scott is having a good give-and-take. One man pressed him about why Democrats aren’t promoting tort reform in HR 3200. An older man is now calling on Scott to push his colleagues to ensure there’s a public option in a health care bill, which drew loud applause. Views from the audience are both liberal and conservative.

But there are many in support of health care reform, the opposite of most of those hear last night in Newport News by U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, R-1st District, where most in attendance opposed Democratic plans for reform.

A man identifying himself as Ed from Norfolk and a correspondent with the World Socialist Web site asked Scott if he would vote for a bill that didn’t include a public option.

Scott said he couldn’t rule out voting for a reform plan that didn’t include a public option, but said, “If you eliminate the public option, I don’t see how the thing could work.”

Woman who lost job, health insurance, calls for affordable care - 7:32 p.m.

Suzanne Vanderpool, 53, spoke about losing her job and health insurance.

She was laid off about six months ago after being diagnosed with hypertension, she said. Her husband owns a small business.

“We’ve always relied on my employer for both our health care, and it was gone,” she said.

“My husband and I have worked our whole lives and we have always paid our bills, we have paid our taxes. My husband served in the Marine Corps. Our son just returned from Iraq a week ago today. So we have not been sitting around asking what our country can do for us,” she said.

But now, she said, her family and others need action from their government.

“We’re not asking for a bailout,” Vanderpool said. “All we want is the basic right of affordable health care.”

Scott says he backs HR 3200, says bill can be paid for - 7:20 p.m.

Scott opened his town hall by calling for a moment of silence for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, and mentioned his work on promoting health care reform.

He pointed to a graphic showing the rising costs of health care in America as a percentage of GDP. In Virginia, Scott said, if you lose your job and health insurance and have a pre-existing condition, you may have trouble getting health insurance.

In recent years, the number of Virginians covered by employer-sponsored health plans has dropped from 68 percent to 62 percent, he said.

He supports HR 3200, a Democratic proposal for health-care reform that includes a public option for health insurance.

“14,000 Americans are losing their insurance every day. 46 million Americans have no insurance at all,” Scott said. “HR3200 is designed to provide affordable health care for everyone.”

The proposal won’t let private insurance companies discriminate based on pre-existing medical conditions, he said.

Scott is also making the case that Democratic reform plans can be paid for by methods such as eliminating overpayments to Medicare and improving the productivity of Medicare.

Drawing some applause and a few chuckles, he said, “Government insurance plans are popular and efficiently run.”

Rep. Scott about to start health care town hall - 7:01 p.m.

Rep. Bobby Scott is about to convene a town hall meeting on health care, the second such meeting in Hampton Roads this week.

Scott, a Democrat representing Virginia’s third congressional district, will give remarks at the Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center in Newport News, then take questions from the audience.

The center has about 350 seats and all are full. Some people are stuck outside waiting because the room is at capacity.

The Virginian-Pilot will post live updates here continuously throughout the meeting. PilotOnline.com readers can post comments below.

Rep. Rob Wittman, R-1st District, held the first health care town hall in Hampton Roads on Monday evening at Christopher Newport University. Almost everyone there was opposed to Democratic plans for reform. Wittman took questions from the audience and said he thinks Congress should start from scratch on health care reform because current proposals would drive up deficits.

Scott’s constituents will hear a different view from their representative.

“In these tough economic times, we must seek to provide universal health care and must seek to reduce the cost of health care insurance, especially for children and pregnant women,” Scott said in a speech earlier this year.

An estimated 46 million people in the United States do not have health insurance. Part of reform called for by President Barack Obama includes a public option in health care that would compete with the private sector.

Insurance companies say a public option is an attempt by government to take over health care; Republicans and some Democrats in Congress are opposed to it.

Second town hall on health care in Hampton Roads to be held tonight

Virginian-Pilot reporter Patrick Wilson will again provide live coverage of a town hall meeting this evening beginning at 7 p.m. at PilotOnline.com.

Also at  PilotOnline.com, you can  watch live streaming video of the event, held by U. S. Rep. Bobby Scott's at the Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center, 2410 Wickham Ave. in Newport News. 

Log on to PilotOnline.com during the meeting to follow the action and post your comments.

On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner is hosting a town hall meeting in Fredericksburg, his office announced today.

The forum will be from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Fredericksburg Expo Center, 2371 Carl D. Silver Parkway. The doors will open at 6 p.m. The gathering will be broadcast live on Warner's Web site.

U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman held a meeting Monday night at Christopher Newport University. The event drew more than 600 people.