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Toomey plans health forum; nonpartisan event will give people information, chance to voice concerns
by Joe McDermott, THE MORNING CALL
July 8, 2000

Touting it as a question-and-answer shopping center for health care and insurance questions, U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey on Thursday announced a public health care forum will be held July 17 at Radisson Hotel Bethlehem.

"Most of us don't understand the process," said Toomey, R-15th District, referring to complicated insurance plans. "We'll also be looking for input and soliciting views from the people who attend."

The "Americans Discuss Health: Conversations in Pennsylvania" forum is the sixth in a series of sessions held around the country this spring by the Public Forum Institute, a nonpartisan Washington, D.C., think tank that works with both political parties on public policy issues.

The forum will be free, but registration is required, and there is a cost for an optional lunch. The forum will run from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Toomey said the forum was a nonpartisan attempt to trade information on health care and is unrelated to his re-election campaign. But all the previous events were led by Republican congressmen.

At least nine other 'Americans discuss health' forums are scheduled from New York to California through August, according to the Public Forum Institute's Web site, www.publicforuminstitute.org.

"There is no ideological bias to this; there is no partisan bias," said Toomey, a first-term Republican running for re-election against United Steelworkers Union leader Ed O'Brien, a Democrat, in the fall.

Institute Vice President Mark Marich acknowledged the Republican participation but said his organization tries to keep the sessions issue-oriented instead of partisan.

The institute has offered to do forums for Democrats, but none has accepted, Marich said.

Debate on the Patients Bill of Rights and prescription drug plan costs prompted the GOP leadership to send members back home for the summer with orders to talk up the issues and get constituent feedback.

"That might explain why more Republicans are champing at the bit, because of those marching orders," Marich said. "We try really hard to keep these events nonpolitical. We try to stick to the issues."

Dr. Gail Wilensky, chairman of the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee and a health and welfare adviser to former President George Bush, will be the featured speaker.

But the hit of the forum is likely to be the electronic audience surveys, said Toomey and Marich. Keypads will allow participants to rank their concern on health care and insurance issues and respond to speakers and panelists, Marich said.

The process is similar to the voting done by the audience on the popular television show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"

"Oh geez, people love it," Marich said. "They definitely feel their voice is being heard; they can see tangible results. It also breaks the routine."

The votes also will give Toomey a sense of constituent priorities, he said at a news conference in the hotel lobby.

"It's very helpful to me to hear directly from my constituents," he said.

Sponsors include Cigna HealthCare; Federation of American Health Systems; Health Insurance Association of America; Pharmacia; the Lehigh County, Bethlehem Area and Two Rivers chambers of commerce; Easton Hospital; Independent Insurance Agents of Pennsylvania, and Visiting Nurses Association.

Health care and insurance costs are top concerns among local businesses, chamber officials said.

"In a recent poll of our members, it is absolutely at the top of our list of issues," said T. Anthony Iannelli, president of the Lehigh County Chamber of Commerce.

To register, call the institute at 202-467-2772 or use the Web page. 

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