The Record
August 10, 2009
Lindy Washburn

The passionate, personal and sometimes rowdy national argument over plans to reform health care came to North Jersey on Monday, as cheering, jeering crowds packed into town hall meetings in North Arlington and Elmwood Park.

Tipped in advance that a CNN television crew would be filming in North Arlington, the New Jersey Tea Party Alliance e-mailed hundreds of supporters around the state urging their participation in the “listening session” called by U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman, D-Fair Lawn.

The two sessions Monday were the first of 10 town hall meetings Rothman will hold this week in Bergen and Hudson counties during Congressional recess.

The crowd in North Arlington was too large for the sweltering senior center — the meeting had been moved there from borough hall — and some were forced to wait outside. They shouted their arguments as police looked on.

Indoors, tempers matched the temperature.

“I’m going to need a knee replacement,” said Matt Makaus, a former North Arlington councilman. “Can some bureaucrat tell me, ‘No, you can’t have it — here’s some crutches and an aspirin?’”

“The only way you’re going to pay for this,” said one woman on Medicare, “is taking away care from seniors who have paid for it all their lives and give it to people who haven’t paid in.”

Rothman, noting that the bills have the support of the AARP, said that changes to Medicare would be minimal — and that drug coverage would be enhanced.

But some were having none of it.

“Not wanting you folks in charge of my heath is care is my number one priority,” said John Tamborini, as 40 people stood up and applauded.

Congress does not intend to nationalize or socialize health care, Rothman said.

But he does believe a public option is necessary “in order to keep the insurance companies honest,” he said. It will be one choice among several, and experts have projected it will be chosen by only 4 percent of people at first, he said.

He was interrupted by shouts of “That’s a lie!” and “That’s not true!” along with chants of “Kill the bill.”

When a supporter of universal coverage declared “all Americans are entitled to health care,” he was greeted with a chorus of boos.

“Everybody does have health care,” someone shouted from the audience. “Go to the hospital and get it!”

Despite the fervor, the Congressman maintained a modicum of civility, referring to the speakers as “gentle ladies and gentlemen.”

As his aides circulated again and again with free bottled water, he extended the two-hour session by 90 minutes. Eventually, everyone came indoors, and all those who wished were given a chance to speak.

Nearly 100 out-of-district supporters of the Tea Party Organization showed up, along with about 75 of Rothman’s constituents from southern Bergen and northern Hudson counties.

The session “let me know how viscerally important” the issue is to people who want to protect their current coverage, he said before heading to another session in Elmwood Park. They don’t want to “jeopardize [it] by any ill- thought-out bills.”

Later, more than 300 people packed into Elmwood Park borough hall for the second public meeting, in which many of the sentiments from earlier in the day were echoed.

“I see so much fear, so much paranoia, so much misinformation,” one woman told Rothman. “You don’t know who to trust.”

Rothman said he will convey the fears expressed — that “government bureaucrats” will choose whether “a red pill or a blue pill is better,” and that insurance companies will go out of business, leaving the government as the only insurer — to Congressional leadership.

Jeffrey Weingarten, co-founder of the Clifton Tea Party Organization and president of the Morristown chapter, embraced the Congressman afterward, saying “you have my backing – anything I can do, or disseminate to other people in New Jersey, you let me know.”

Rothman has not committed himself to any of three House bills.

“If I had my druthers, I would have Medicare for all of us,” he said. “I believe Medicare works beautifully.”

Most in the crowd, however, opposed a larger government role in health care.

“It took me 3½ hours this morning to renew my driver’s license,” said one constituent. “How are you going to insure 300 million people?”

Rothman asked those who currently receive Medicare coverage to raise their hands, and more than half did. “How’s your health care?” he asked.

Hearing no complaints, he said, “that’s all run by the government, thank you very much.”

“My goal from the beginning is to make sure that, at the very least, no health care reform bill does any harm,” he said.

Rothman has scheduled eight more sessions this week. U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-Paterson, will host a telephone town hall Tuesday night.

E-mail: washburn@northjersey.com