By Emilee Shake, Staff Writer
Several people wearing red, white and blue, waving American flags and carrying signs gathered Wednesday outside the Daviess County Courthouse when the Hands Off My Healthcare tour stopped for a presentation. The tour, organized by Americans for Prosperity, brought State Representative Mark Messmer, senior policy director for Conservatives for Patient Rights Kerri Houston-Toloczko, and Indianapolis resident and activist from Ireland Tarah De Staic to the city.
Messmer, agreeing reform is needed, addressed the local crowd.
“It’s sometimes worse to put a bad bill out instead of the correct bill,” Messmer said.
It is the right of American citizens to have healthcare options, Messmer said. He also spoke about how tough it is to deal with state bureaucrats, saying it will be even more difficult with federal bureaucrats.
Houston-Toloczko spoke of the policies in states such as Maine and Oregon. Maine instituted a public healthcare plan in 2005, and it is $17 million on its annual tax budget. In Oregon, if individuals are not going to be treated they receive a letter in the mail that includes a note with information on assisted suicide.
“They cannot justify what they’re doing to us,” Houston-Toloczko said, encouraging attenders to call Eighth District Congressman Brad Ellsworth’s office.
An Indianapolis resident, De Staic was born in Ireland and lived in the United Kingdom for four years before moving to the U.S. 15 years ago. De Staic, having experienced first-hand public healthcare, shared her thoughts, drawing parallels between her life in the U.S. and her family in Europe.
“National healthcare can be summed up in two words: ‘waiting list,’” De Staic said.
Her husband, now a U.S. citizen, developed a back problem that required him to see a specialist. He was able to get into the specialist within three days. It took her brother, who also had a back problem, 13 months to see a specialist.
In the United Kingdom, De Staic and her husband saved for four years to buy a home and were never able to get ahead. Within two years in the U.S., they purchased their first home.
“We got tired of the taxation,” De Staic said of life in Europe. “Overall taxation is higher.”
Not all in attendance were in agreement with Hands Off My Health Care’s position. One man vocalized his opposition during the closing statements of the Americans for Prosperity representative.
The tour, traveling across the country, was designed to educate people about proposed health care reform. However, organizers said after a few stops, it was apparent people are informed. Now the tour has a different focus for those opposing the current public healthcare plan.
“It’s telling them to stay involved and be the voices that matter,” Houston-Toloczko said.
