V15 N1 Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009 Hoosier town halls take civil turn Donnelly, Hill find crowds willing to listen about reforms By BRIAN A. HOWEY and MARK SCHOEFF JR. KOKOMO - A year af- ter Indiana became a historical battleground on Barack Obama’s march to the American presidency, the state has found itself in one of the most intense civic debates in a generation: health care reform. And while cable news net- works like MSNBC are character- izing the congressional town halls taking place across the nation as “brawls” and today’s Indianapolis Star features page 1 coverage of “raucous protests” in Pennsylva- U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly listens to a citizen on a south side Kokomo street Wednesday night in a nia, these media outlets missed town hall moved outside because so many people showed up. (HPI Photo by Brian A. Howey) the two Central Indiana town halls. On a warm Wednesday eve- be a civil discourse with undecided U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly. ning here in the embattled City of Firsts, several hundred people crowded a south side Kokomo street for what would Continued on Page 3 Doc’s health reforms By JACK COLWELL SOUTH BEND - Ronald Reagan pushed a health care reform bill to passage, providing Medicare protection from runaway hospital and pre- scription-drug costs in catastrophic illness, overcoming opposition from “Well, that’s a good question. My powerful health insurance interests. contribution is upcoming.” President Reagan? Yes, Reagan. - U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, when He was successful because it was just laughable to portray him asked about his stance on health care re- and Indiana’s Otis R. “Doc” Bowen, form by the Evansville Courier & Press then secretary of Health and Hu- man Services, as scheming to bring on some terrible socialized medi- HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 2 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009 cine. Howey Politics gible, with an increase of $4 a month But never underestimate the in 1989, climbing to $10.20 in 1993, Indiana well-funded insurance lobby. Soon in premiums deducted from Social after Reagan left the White House Security checks. The 40 percent of the is a nonpartisan news- and Bowen was back in Indiana, the Medicare eligible subject to federal legislation was repealed by Congress. letter based in Indianapolis income tax would pay additional slid- Why? Opponents, using distorted cost ing-scale premiums based on wealth. and published by NewsLink statistics, staged demonstrations and Medicare recipients were news media manipulation, had even to have full hospital coverage, with no Inc. It was founded in convinced many of those who would limit on days covered, and protection 1994 in Fort Wayne. have benefited the most that it was a against skyrocketing doctor bills and bad deal. drug costs during a lengthy illness. “We were years ahead of our It passed with large bipartisan Brian A. Howey, publisher time,” says Bowen. majorities after Bowen “If it hadn’t been Mark Schoeff Jr.,Washington fought off efforts by repealed, it would some liberal Demo- Jack E. Howey, editor have taken care of crats to add all kinds Beverly Phillips, associate a lot of problems of expensive bells and we are facing now.” editor whistles and efforts On July by some conservative 1, 1988, Reagan Republicans to kill any Subscriptions: signed the legisla- Medicare expansion. tion into law. After passage, spe- $350 annually HPI via e-mail; The plan cial interests, left and $550 annually HPI & HPI Daily was devised by right, sought to scuttle Wire. Bowen, who was the plan. The insur- well aware of ance lobby cited the Call 317-627-6746. catastrophic illness Former Gov. and HHS Secretary highest likely premium Howey Politics Indiana tragedies as a family Otis R. “Doc” Bowen, seen here for the wealthy to stir physician in Bre- 6255 N. Evanston Ave. at the Statehouse after Gov. Frank up opposition. Scare men, where he still O’Bannon’s September 2003 funer- tactics made it sound Indianapolis, IN 46220 resides, as a family al. (HPI Photo by Brian A. Howey) as though every senior medicine admin- citizen would pay that Contact Us istrator at Indiana much. University Medical School and through It wasn’t just the insurance www.howeypolitics.com a Health and Human Services study. lobby. [email protected] In announcing support, “James Roosevelt got the Reagan asked Congress “to help give Main Office: 317-202-0210. senior citizens all riled up,” Bowen re- Americans that last full measure of calls. The son of Franklin D. Roosevelt Howey’s Mobile: 317-506-0883. security, to provide a health insurance headed the National Committee to Indianapolis Fax: 317-254-0535. plan that fights the fear of catastroph - Preserve Social Security and Medi- Washington: 202-256-5822. ic illness.” care. He was contesting with other “For too long,” Reagan said, organizations for influence with senior Business Office: 317-627-6746. “many of our senior citizens have citizens and claimed that the plan ©2009, Howey Politics been faced with making an intolerable didn’t do enough and shouldn’t cost Indiana . All rights reserved. choice, a choice between bankruptcy recipients so much. and death.” Roosevelt warned that “less Photocopying, Internet forwarding, Bowen notes that the plan than one in five seniors will be helped faxing or reproducing in any form, was to pay for itself, adding nothing to in any given year.” Well, if it had in whole or part, is a violation of the national debt. helped 20 percent of seniors every That’s what Reagan wanted, year, from then until now, think of federal law without permission from Bowen says, “and I did, too.” the millions upon millions who would the publisher. The additional benefits were have been helped economically and to be paid for by the Medicare eli- emotionally at times of major hospital, HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 3 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009 doctor and drug expenses. the bill.” A fatal blow came when special interests round- President George H.W. Bush pushed no adjust- ed up some senior citizens, give them signs and encour- ments, letting scared members of Congress repeal the plan aged them to ambush Dan Rostenkowski, House Ways and in the fall of 1989. Means Committee chairman, after a meeting in his Chicago “If it had not been repealed,” Bowen says, district. They prevented his departure, with one elderly “progress could have been very fruitful.” Instead, insurance woman spread-eagled on the hood of his car. The news profits remained very fruitful and problems Ronald Reagan media had been alerted, and Rostenkowski was seen in film sought to remedy then are still faced by Congress and the and photos fleeing angry constituents. News media ac - nation today. v counts portrayed vast senior citizen outrage at Congress for passing the plan. Colwell has covered Indiana politics over five de - “One of the things that irked me,” says Bowen, cades for the South Bend Tribune. “was the new president came in and did nothing to save NBC interview Wednesday afternoon, put the number much Town halls, from page 1 higher: “I said I oppose a government takeover of health care paid for $800 billion in new taxes.” Another 250 people crowded into the New Castle-Henry He said at town halls in the 6th CD, many people County Library auditorium to listen to U.S. Rep. Mike Pence. have told him: “The president is demanding we run a gov- These events came a day after U.S. Rep. Baron Hill ernment run option. When the government starts running experienced a similar reception at the downtown India- an insurance program, hundreds of employers will shut napolis Rotary Club. No doubt, there were pointed ques- their programs.” tions. There were declarations, some shouting, eye rolling Appearing on Fox News on Aug. 6, Pence talked and hooting. But at both the Hill and Donnelly events about the “tradition of free speech” at town halls and add- HPI witnessed, the decorum was not breached. The spirit ed, “I am telling you, at these record crowds, people are of debate persisted. The palpable fear by some Hoosier Members of Congress of the people they are supposed to represent is unwarranted. “This is our chance to hear what others have to say,” Donnelly told the crowd in Kokomo which appeared to be an even mix of Obama supporters and skeptics whose concerns ranged from budget deficits to “death panels” and abortion, and even constitutional concerns. Nearly half the license plants in the nearby parking lot were from outside Howard County. Many times, Donnelly simply responded by saying he would ponder concerns and take them back to Washing- ton. Asked if he had read the bill, Donnelly said that he has reviewed “chunks” but expects to have digested most of the legislation by Labor Day. He repeatedly vowed to vote for legislation that would be revenue neutral and address people with pre-existing condition dilemmas. He told the crowd that there were actually five different bills and all of U.S. Rep. Baron Hill (left) took a them had a long way to go before President Obama could number of questions Tuesday at sign one into law. He expressed skepticism that it would the Indianapolis Rotary Club. Hill even happen in 2009. described himself as “fully com- And there was an intense debate over the pro- mitted to health care reform.” (HPI jected federal deficit numbers in HB 3200, the bill that has Photo by Brian A. Howey) gained the most momentum in the House. Donnelly said the Congressional Budget Office estimate stood at a still unacceptable $239 billion.