New Albany mayor on board with Obama’s plan

By DANIEL SUDDEATH

Though he won’t cast a consequential vote for any kind of reform, New Albany Mayor Doug England threw his hat into the national health care arena Monday.

During a roundtable discussion featuring Southern Indiana residents, small business owners, a doctor and a pharmacist, England blamed confusion over health care reform for pitting “citizen against citizen.”

England — a Democrat who spoke in favor of President Barack Obama’s plan — said the government already runs forms of medical insurance such as Medicare, proving in his opinion that publicly funded health care can work.

The uninsured, encumbered by pre-existing medical conditions, are slighted in a country where good health should be an affordable option, England said.

“When it comes to insurance, we’re all equal. That’s what it’s supposed to be, but we’ve gotten away from it,” he said.

The forum was hosted by Organizing for America, a group spawned from the Democratic National Committee that pushes Obama’s policies at a grassroots level.

Every panelist was in favor of government-sponsored health care. The discussion was held at Postal Business Centers, a small operation along Charlestown Road.

The owners of Postal Business, Mike and Susan Hewitt, said they pay nearly half of their combined income — about $30,000 annually — each year for health costs due to pre-existing medical conditions that have limited their ability to retain insurance.

Getting preventive care is not an option the couple has.

Susan Hewitt said buying medication is getting so bad that the couple has considered driving to Canada to fill prescriptions.

“It’s unsustainable,” she said.

She has already gone abroad for medical care. After finding out her state-issued insurance would only cover catastrophic operations, Susan Hewitt said she traveled to Thailand for a mammogram and ultrasound, which she said would have cost at least $4,000 in the U.S.

The cost was $700 in Thailand, a total expense for her of $1,900 including the plane ticket. And Susan Hewitt stands behind the quality of the care she received overseas.

Panelist Barb Adams, a New Albany resident who owns a small business in Louisville, said with the unemployment rate so high, the amount of uninsured will continue to rise.

She has a liver disease and her husband is confined to a wheelchair. Adams said they will lose their work health insurance in December, and she thinks it will be impossible to find an affordable carrier with their conditions.

“We’re just a drop in the bucket to what I think is coming down the road,” she said.

The cost for providing health insurance for city employees is already more than a drop in the bucket, England said. Between $2.5 and $3 million of taxpayer money will go toward medical benefits for New Albany workers in 2009, according to the mayor.

That equates to about 20 percent of the budget.

England said a government controlled system would allow the city to direct some of that money into different projects, as the medical insurance comes from the general fund.

“Their taxes may not go down, but we can give them better service,” he said.

With Congress on its August recess, town halls and roundtables are popping up around Indiana. Rep. Baron Hill is scheduled to meet today with One Southern Indiana to discuss health care legislation.

Nick Buis, Indiana state director for Organizing for America, said the group will host a few more forums around Southern Indiana, though they don’t plan on coming back to New Albany or Jeffersonville in the near future.

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