CNN "Newsroom" - Transcript

Interview

COLLINS: Town hall meetings, forums, discussions. Well, on the topic of health care reform that is the least of what we are seeing across the country. And this morning in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, sparks are flying and we are looking at a couple of different live shots there you there.

One from inside the town hall meeting that is being held by Senator Arlen Specter. That's on the bottom. And the picture on the top is what's going on outside that meeting because there just really wasn't enough room for everyone who wanted to attend this town hall on health care reform inside the building apparently.

So, the senator is getting ready to wrap up, I believe he's got just one or two more questions left because he had said that there would be 30 questions that he would attempt to answer from all the people who have gathered there in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. And we have certainly seen some fireworks this morning for lack of a better word.

But we want to talk a little bit more about this. I think we're going to be doing that for quite some time, quite frankly, while Congress is in recess here. And they're going back to their town and their state and hearing from their constituents.

Joining me right now, two congressmen who are certainly no strangers to town hall meetings. Congressman Steve Cohen, he's a Democrat from Memphis, survived a rowdy town hall meeting of his own this past weekend. And thank you, Congressman, for being here.

And also Congressman Phil Gingrey a Republican and long-time physician, in fact, right here in Atlanta, who has five town hall meetings coming up on his schedule.

So, we wish you luck before you even have those, congressman. And again, thanks to the both of you for being with us this morning.

Congressman Cohen, first to you because I believe that you experienced at least a little of what Senator Specter is experiencing right now in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.

I, in fact, want to show our viewers some of what happened in your town hall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. STEVE COHEN (D), TENNESSEE: Please don't yell out. This is America, this is Memphis, Tennessee. Take two aspirin and come back in the morning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Were you surprised, Congressman Cohen, that you sort of had to play referee or disciplinarian because we saw Senator Specter sort of having to do the same thing today.

What was your take?

COHEN: Well, I was a little surprised at the crowd. We had, I think a fairly successful town hall. We had over 1,000 people. But a lot of the people came there with their minds made up. They had a lot of misinformation that are the same misinformation that you're seeing nationally that people are putting out stories that this has to do with euthanasia or this has to do with abortion or this has to do with Congress (INAUDIBLE) out of the program or socialism. All of which is false. And the people didn't really want to have information. And that was unfortunate --

COLLINS: Well, now, hang on a minute Congressman. I think that after everything we have done here to try to cover this issue, I think there are more questions than answers really on any of that. Isn't a lot of the frustration that we're seeing coming from the fact that nobody really knows what's in this?

I mean, you heard Arlen Specter himself, time and time again during this very town hall meeting right now that there is no bill in the Senate.

So, aren't people just confused at this point?

COHEN: Well, there's truth to that and one of the gentleman there asked me how are going to vote on the bill? And I said, there isn't a bill yet. Wait to see where it comes up. But there is a bill that has gone through the three committees in the House, HR-3200, that is a framework. And that framework -- what the people against it are saying is that it contains certain things that it doesn't. And so when they're throwing out at all these town meetings around the country that it contains certain information that's false, you see this misinformation is to kill any attempt to have health reform.

This wasn't spontaneous generation that all these town halls because people are asking the same questions, limited purview and putting up the similar type of signs and talking about socialism, which is what people talked about in 1965, when Medicare and Medicaid came about and certainly that's not socialism. That's a good thing and it's helped seniors, low-income people get health care. Our system needs reform. There's no question about it.

COLLINS: Well, Congressman Gingrey, I want to let you get in here.

From what you're seeing across the country and as we had mentioned in the introduction, you have several town hall meetings of your own coming up.

Is this a good show of democracy, or, is this something that should not be occurring at this point?

REP. PHIL GINGREY (R), GEORGIA: No, Heidi, I think it is a great show of democracy and it should be occurring. I mean, that is the American way.

People want to ask questions. They don't have an opportunity. My good friend Steve Cohen said that the bill in the House of Representatives was just a framework. Well, in fact, it was an amended bill, an 1,100-page bill that was amended and passed out of the Energy and Commerce Committee pretty much on a straight party line vote, 31 to 28. But that is the bill that when we go back in September, it will be presented to the entire House, including to Steve and myself and others. I do happen to be on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

But people, the (INAUDIBLE) public, they're showing up in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and Steve's district in Memphis, and mine in Rome, Georgia, coming up this week, they don't have an opportunity to read the bill and they want to know.

Maybe some of their information is misinformation but all they can get is off YouTube and television and what they read and what they hear. So it's our obligation to stand on the breach and explain to these people so they understand what's in the bill. They have great fears and they're legitimate fears.

COLLINS: Well, I have to ask you because you have quite a unique perspective in all of this. You are a physician, a gynecologist of 26 years.

Has that experience sort of shaped how you look at health care reform? I don't know how it couldn't.

GINREY: Well, Heidi, absolutely. And of course, I do hear from a lot of providers. Physicians I practice with, physicians across the country, nurses, owners of nursing homes, hospice care, home health care, everybody.

But, you know, really, the people I'm hearing from the most -- they're the seniors. They're the 25 percent of seniors that get their Medicare from Medicare Advantage and that's going to be gutted. $550 billion is going to be taken out of Medicare program.

These seniors are -- and these are the ones that you're seeing at the town hall meeting. They're not a bunch of radical red necks. They're intelligent, they're concerned and they're compassionate about their Medicare and they want that to be fixed first and foremost. They don't want to be thrown under the bus because 4.5 percent of the people in the country don't have health insurance.

COLLINS: Well, Congressman Cohen, I want to get back to you, as well, here.

Obviously, we have very limited time and I wish we could talk about it forever until we all understand it quite frankly.

But do you have any advice for more congressmen, representatives that are going to be holding town halls? I mean, what's the best way to go about this? Because I imagine you want to hear from your constituents, yes?

COHEN: Well, Heidi, the first thing I'd like to do is to tell seniors they don't have anything to worry about. Medicare Advantage takes a lot of money from seniors and puts them at profits and executive salaries that should go into health care and we're going to see that that doesn't happen --

GINGREY: That's not true.

COHEN: -- and those monies going to the seniors. And the doughnut hole will be closed. There will be an attempt to close that doughnut hole that hurt seniors and seniors won't have to make co-pays for preventative programs and wellness programs that they shouldn't have to so that they get those treatments.

There's a lot of benefits here to seniors and there's so much that's been put out as misinformation. What happened at my town hall was that we had doctors presented. Some doctors were for the health care reform and some were for single payer and some were totally against it. And while I respect Phil Gingrey, he's my friend, we travel together, there are doctors that differ with him in the Congress. Dr. Jim McDermott is a doctor. Because you're a doctor doesn't mean that there's a monocle (ph) on thoughts. And doctors can go both ways as lawyers can go both ways.

COLLINS: Sure. And I didn't ask him that. I asked him if it shaped his own personal view on health care reform.

So Congressman Gingrey, I'm going to give you the last word.

GINGREY: Well, again I want to say, watching that town hall meeting in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. If Miss Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, or President Obama want to suggest that that's a bunch of radical Republicans, those people speaking out may very well be supportive of the Democratic opponent to Arlen Specter, Joe Sestak. And maybe these Democrats want to know which of the two are going to support this crazy government takeover health care before they decide who to vote for in November of 2010.

(CROSSTALK)

GINGREY: It's not a government takeover of health care.

COLLINS: All right. You know what, gentleman, unfortunately, we do not have any more time. As I said, we would love to have you back another day to talk more about this because I think the conversations are only beginning.

And as we say that, we thank both representatives. Phil Gingrey and Representative Steve Cohen.

GINGREY: Thank you, Heidi.

COLLINS: Thank you gentlemen, very much.

COHEN: Thank you, Heidi.

GINGREY: Good to see you, Steve.

COHEN: Thanks, Phil. Good to see you.

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