Day Two: Campaign picks up speed in Lake Charles.

Today couldn’t have gone any better. The residents of Lake Charles met us with excitement, enthusiasm, and overwhelming support of our cause. Sitting outside of the local Wal-Mart we were met with people of varying backgrounds economically, racially, and in age but the response was clear: NO TO GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTHCARE!

One interesting part of the day was when we met a gentleman by the name of Clevance Cormier Jr, an Obama supporter who’s extremely disappointed with the state of health care, and the proposed reform coming from the White House. Currently enrolled in Medicare Part D, Mr. Cormier faces outrageous costs for prescription drugs due to his doctor’s inability to prescribe the correct dosages due to bureaucratic entanglements. He mentioned that he would much rather see a reform of the Medicare D program before we launch a new trillion dollar layer to that bureaucracy.

Here is a brief clip of what Mr. Cormier had to say:



That wasn’t the only interesting conversation of the day. One of the best moments came when a recent inductee to the local Tea Party organization spotted our table from across the parking lot and asked us about our mission. As soon as we could say “No public option” the gentleman was signing a postcard, signing up on our website, and begging for more information on the Campaign for Responsible Health Reform.

To sum it all up: we have yet to meet one person in favor of government-run healthcare. As our tour presses on I have the fact that we have a delegation in Louisiana that is truly in tune with the needs of their constituents.

THIS IS DEVIN!

Today was an eventful day, as David mentioned. Clevance offered us some very keen insight into the state of Medicare Part D and simultaneously presented fair reason for concern over the public option. But on a latter point he’s wrong. I did meet one woman today who was for the public option. Of course, I was a good fifty feet away from our table coming out of the Lake Charles Wal-Mart when the conversation occurred so there’s no way for him to know about it until he reads this… or I tell him.

Nonetheless, I did in fact meet a woman who was for the public option today in Lake Charles, except, she still appreciated what we were doing. She was glad we harbor a healthy skepticism over Congress’ rushed movements. “That’s part of the process,” she said.

Day One: Lafayette

I must admit, I was a bit surprised by how the day turned out. Watching the news over the weekend gave me the impression that health care reform was paramount in the mind of all Americans. Watching the frightening tales of fights at town hall meetings, a congressman hanged in effigy and getting multiple emails daily from the Democratic listserves I'm signed on to, I drew the conclusion that everyone knew about the substance of the debate and everyone had an opinion about it. I was wrong.

A young woman came up to our booth today to see what we were doing, why we were sitting out in the 95-degree muggy heat. I explain to her that we were concerned about the tone of the national debate on health care and we wanted to impress upon the constituents of Louisiana the importance health reform beyond the public option. That there are many individuals and small businesses that can’t afford health insurance and that the government can help solve this without taking over the health industry.

She didn’t have health insurance and she was vaguely opposed to the public option, but she had never considered the fact that health reform and government-run health care are not synonymous. She got surprisingly excited to sign on to the campaign after I explained that the government could make it easier for small businesses to afford coverage by allowing them to pool their employees, that our own Sen. Mary Landrieu co-sponsored a bill that would incentivize individuals to get coverage with tax deductions, and that these ideas are just the tip of the iceberg.

This was not an isolated incident. Nearly everyone David and I spoke to didn’t really think much of health reform beyond the public option, and even on that subject there was little opinion- and almost everyone we spoke to had no health insurance. I was blown away. These are the very people who should be most vocal in the debate.

But I find this to be as encouraging as it was startling. What we are doing is all the more important precisely because the people most in need of health reform are not engaged. We’ve got a lot of work to do.

On that note, this also means that Obama’s administration and our Congress have a lot of work cut out for them. If what we saw today is a decent cross-section of Louisiana then it’s clear that there is a general lack of knowledge on the issues surrounding health care. That said, how can we expect truly responsible reform without clearly identifying what that reform is to the people that it matters most to: the uninsured.

THIS IS DAVE HERE!

Just to quickly add to Devin's take on the day, I just want to mention that the support for the cause driving the Campaign for Responsible Health Reform was clear-- passers by mentioned their disdain for the current administration's handling of the debate. In fact it seems clear at this point that the arguments going on are less about the substance of the bill but the iron curtain of uncertainty that surrounds it. While there is a lot of criticism of the conservative activists at townhall meetings (most of it deserved), perhaps this could have been avoided if the Obama administration had decided to have an open dialogue with citizens sooner in the process...

Hitting the Road

The air was charged this morning. It felt more like anticipating Christmas than the hot and sultry New Orleans summer Sunday it was. Today wasn't a typical day in the Big Easy-- it was a day filled with packing belongings, saying goodbye to friends and family, and preparing for a historic trip through the great state of Louisiana.

Why you ask? Well the reason is as necessary as it is exciting. I, David Huguenel, and Devin Johnson were to hit the road, working with Louisiana citizens to determine, "What is responsible health reform?"

Devin, a tried and true democrat and I, a Republican, decided to hit the road on behalf of the Campaign for Responsible Health Reform. The debate over health reform has taken many twists and turns during the past few months; between beltway Democrats crying for politically expedient bills passed prematurely and Republican activists trying to drown out opposition in what can only be explained as a crude and crass manner. The conflicting ideologies between right and left had dissolved dialogue to the point of, "Now, Now, Now," vs, "No, No, No."

It was out of this tense and stagnant context we realized the need of bi-partisanship in the health care debate. Thus our campaign for truly responsible health reform.

We have one goal: To offer a moderate voice and allow the citizens of Louisiana to posit ideas and solutions to lower the costs of health care and find inventive ways to provide coverage to the uninsured.

So for the next week we will be traveling through the state -- hitting cites, towns, and villages -- to talk about the issues and listen to the citizens. We're starting in Lafayette, which will be followed by Lake Charles, Alexandria, Monroe, Shreveport, and New Orleans. Throughout the process we'll be posting videos of testimonials of every day Louisianians telling us what responsible reform means to them. We may end up including some travelogues and interviews as well. Who knows what the final product will look like? There's a long road ahead!