Perriello defends health care vote

Amid callous criticism of his vote, Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th District, defended his support of the sweeping health care reform bill that narrowly passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday night.

Perriello held a conference call Monday for media that included a Collinsville small business owner, a director of community health centers in the district, a Lynchburg physician, a Charlottesville pastor and a Martinsville resident who is uninsured.

“This has obviously been a very long process of several months,” Perriello said of work on the bill. “I think it’s been important that we took that time… In the choice between solving a problem and sitting on the sidelines, I thought it was important to solve this problem.”

Perriello mentioned reducing the federal deficit, reducing premiums for middle class families and reducing regional disparities facing rural hospitals as “major successes” in the bill’s passing, which he called a “victory” for Americans.

“We were able to … turn this into a bill that I think will be a lifeline for health care in rural communities,” he said.

He acknowledged he would like to have seen inter-state competition and increased portability included in the bill, along with increased tort and malpractice reform — all pieces Perriello said he hoped to see in the Senate version. He reiterated that he would not support a bill that included federal funding for abortions.

“I’m hopeful that they’ll put the best ideas on the table and we’ll bring them together in a merged bill,” he said.

Perriello indicated that a goal of health care reform was to increase preventative care and services, something which both Dr. William Blackman, a Lynchburg internist, and Rod Manifold, executive director of Central Virginia Health Services’ community centers, strongly supported.

“The current health-care delivery system is really a mess,” Blackman said. “While this bill is certainly not perfect… this has certainly gotten the ball rolling.”

Shuna Ingram, a Martinsville resident who lost her job and health insurance in September, said she supported the affordability credits that would allow her to purchase insurance cheaper through an exchange.

Ellen Jessee owns a small business in Collinsville and cannot afford the rising cost of insurance premiums for her 10 employees. Jessee supported the ability to pool with other small businesses to negotiate lower prices.

Perriello said the “historic” House vote was an opportunity to use a market-based approach to “close a gap” in coverage. He said the single most important thing to his reelection was the economy and that he was proud to be a part of the group that “finally stepped up and did the tough work to tackle that problem where so many before have failed.”

“This is first and foremost an economic issue,” Perriello said. “…But it’s also about who we are as a society.”

Perriello to hold telephone town hall meeting Thursday
Perriello invites 5th District constituents to participate in a free telephone town hall meeting on health care reform Thursday from 7 to 8 p.m. To participate, call (877) 269-7289 and enter PIN 14581.