Tea Party Opposes President’s Health Care Plan

Mississippi’s Tea Party sponsors a health care forum, where experts talked about President Barack Obama’s health care plan.  Most say it’s not the right way to go.

On Wednesday, Obama held a town hall meeting in Virginia to talk with Americans about his plan.  He says the current program has been broken for a long time. 

“It’s also not too soon to reform our health care system when we’ve been talking about fixing it since Teddy Roosevelt was president,“ he said.   

The president says the trillion dollar deal would assure that every American has health coverage.  He says the government will not borrow money to pay for the plan.  Instead, he wants to reform medicaid and medicare to help fund it.

The program is controversial because the government insurance plan would compete with private plans offered by many employers.  On Riverside Drive in Jackson, dozens of Mississippians gathered to listen to medical professionals talk about the plan.

The event was sponsored by Mississippi’s Tea Party, which supports less government intervention in the economy.

“Liberal democrats in the US are pushing to adopt a system much like the one that has failed so miserably in Canada,“ said a narrator during a film shown to the audience.

“I have been in practice for many years in the US and have never turned away anybody,“ said Dr. Lee Voulters, a neurologist with Memorial Hospital in Gulfport.

Voulters, who practiced medicine in England, Canada and the U.S., says President Obama’s plan is backwards.

“We’ll have government controlled health care, which is not a good thing,“ he said.

“What’s troubling about health care is 84 cents on every dollar, you’re spending someone else’s money,“ said Dr. Jim Leggette, and economist who is teaching at Belhaven College.  “We all know, when you’re spending someone else’s money, you’re just not as careful.“

Mississippi’s Tea Party will sponsor a second health care forum at Mississippi College on July 22nd.