Strong Opinions and Lots of Confusion About Health Care Reform

Feisty town hall meetings about health care reform are making national news. But as MPB’s Cari Gervin found out, most people’s thoughts about changes to health insurance are a little more balanced, but just as confused.

In Tupelo, most people’s shopping gets done on a stretch of Gloster Street. There’s Sears and Home Depot, Barnes and Noble and Wal-Mart. And it’s on Gloster Street that a middle-aged woman named Carolyn has just finished shopping with her daughter.

When asked if she thinks the government should offer a low cost health insurance plan for the uninsured, Carolyn replies, "Absolutely not."

“Well, I just don’t think that the government should be paying for our healthcare, that we should be able to do that ourselves, and if we can’t, then we need to find a way to do it. I just don’t want big government taking care of me.”

Here’s the thing, though – Carolyn herself can’t afford health insurance. She hasn’t had it for four years.

“And in that time I have gone to the doctor when I needed to and paid for it myself.”

But for people like Eugene Pavone, that isn’t an option. He’s in his 70s and uses both private insurance and Medicare. Still, he says, health care costs are out of control.

“My gosh, it’s terrible! In fact, my wife went to the doctor this morning, had several tests – we came out with $583!"

Pavone thinks the tests will be covered by their insurance.

“But you can see if somebody didn’t have insurance, what it would mean.”

And that’s why Pavone says he wouldn’t mind paying a little extra on his taxes so that everyone could have insurance. Rhonda Hopper agrees.

“Because I’ve been there, done that. You know, when I was a single parent, um, I had to rely on the government. But I still worked. I would not mind helping a mother, a single mother, or someone who could not help it, get health insurance. But –”

And there’s that "but."

“I don’t think it needs to change under the plans Obama that has for it.”

In fact, Hopper feels pretty strongly that President Obama’s plan might be bad for America, even if she is kind of vague on the exact details of the plan.

And when it comes to not understanding those details, Rhonda Hopper and almost everyone in the country – uninsured and not – are in the same boat.

For MPB News, I’m Cari Gervin.