Special to the Tri-State Defender

The “State of the State on Healthcare Reform” meeting held Saturday (Aug. 22) at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center bore little resemblance to the rowdy and confrontational townhall meetings that have grabbed headlines across the nation.

Dr. Michael Caudle of University of Tennessee Health Science Center is engaged in a conversation with Rev. Dr. William M. Young Sr. of following a healthcare reform townhall meeting at UTHSC last Saturday. Both were panelists. (Photo by Earl Stanback)

That’s just the way its principal organizer – State Rep. G.A. Hardaway – wanted it.

Nearly 200 people, including anti-reformers, attended the session held from 9 a.m. to noon in UT’s Wassell Randolph Student Alumni Center at 800 Madison.  All was quiet and respectful – an atmosphere encouraged by posted warning against signs and guns, and aided by a show of force from UT police officers who confiscated signs before visitors entered the building. Once inside, participants were given index cards to write out their questions.

Hardaway said he wanted a sober discussion of the Healthcare Reform bill and the effect of reform on state and local healthcare programs, hospitals, other healthcare providers and on ordinary citizens.  

“The forum was a successful attempt for citizens to be heard,” said Hardaway, who represents the 92nd District.  “The bedrock of democracy is the ability of citizens to communicate with leaders. Through free exchange of information, we will develop a national healthcare plan that is adequate, accessible and affordable.”

Moderated by talk show host Leon Gray, the forum was presented by Hardaway, Arc of the Mid-South, 100 Black Men of Memphis, Memphis Center for Independent Living, NAMI Memphis, National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Tennessee Health Equity Commission and UT Health Science Center (UTHSC). It showcased two groups of panelists from virtually every level of government and constituent group.

The only testy moment in the event came when Brad Cobb of the National Alliance on Mental Illness-Memphis took exception to a comment from Sen. Jim Kyle, who rose quickly to answer. The moderator reminded the two that each would have a chance to speak but that neither they nor the audience could address panelists directly.  

Gray started the discussion by providing background on 10 myths about the Obama healthcare plan. Calvin Anderson of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee put healthcare reform into a historical context.

Saying it was good to sit down in a sober manner and have a sober discussion, Anderson said President Teddy Roosevelt first raised the question of universal healthcare for Americans in 1912.  

It was also brought forward in varying forms by President Franklin Roosevelt as part of the New Deal, by President John Kennedy in 1961, President Lyndon Johnson in 1965, President Jimmy Carter in 1976 and President Bill Clinton in 1993, he said.  

“There should be universal access to care,” said Anderson. “The devil is in the details.”