Your Turn To Grill A Representative On Health Care Reform

The Huffington Post's citizen reporters have spent countless hours poring over the health care legislation coming out of congress and digging into the financial relationships between congressmen and lobbyists, and now they have the opportunity to go straight to the source. This week, citizen journalist Charlotte Robinson will interview Representative Tammy Baldwin (D-WI: $176,900), and she'll be asking questions on behalf of the corps of HuffPost citizen investigators.

We have called on members of the Health Care Investigative Unit to submit one question they would like Baldwin to answer, and now we want to hear from HuffPost readers.

What question would you ask Congresswoman Baldwin?

As a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and of the Subcommittee on Health, Baldwin will play a key role in sculpting the House's health care bill.

In the first day of mark-ups, Baldwin added two amendments that were accepted by the committee. The first would create an educational campaign to raise awareness of the need for advanced care planning and establish a toll-free hotline to provide the public with information about advanced care planning.

Her second provision, offered by a small bipartisan coalition, creates a new grant program for educational institutions to develop mental and behavioral health training programs.

While not one of the major recipients of campaign contributions from health care lobbyists, Baldwin is no freshman congresswoman either. She has served in the House of Representatives since 1999, and over the last decade she has developed a strong grasp of how backroom deal making can transform a bill.

What question would you ask to shed light on the process of passing this mammoth piece of legislation? Send your questions for Baldwin to [e-mail] before Wednesday at 5pm EST to be considered for Charlotte's interview Thursday morning. We look forward to hearing your suggestions.

*The dollar amount listed after each Senator and Representative refers to total donations from health care lobbyists during the period Jan 2003-Dec 2008 according to MapLight and the Center for Responsive Politics.

Comments

[davism97]

Why are we ignoring the overwhelming evidence from other countries that universal health care provides the cheapest and best health insurance to a country's citizens?

Why is health care for everyone (NOT just the middle and upper class) not being treated as a human right?

[medicinecat]

Have you noticed on talk radio and cable news, it's always white, middle-aged males who claim to be liberals who are the most concerned about the "high cost" of health care reform? These guys didn't have an opinion on financing Bush's wars, tax breaks for the rich, Bush blowing the surplus, etc. I never hear women of any race, or men of other races, who are "worried about cost" on these shows. Could it be that these "responsible" white guys were planted by that notorious party of middle-aged white men that goes by the letters G.O.P.?

[yankees]

Forget the subject matter just look at Pelosi's smug photo, enough to vote against anything she believes in! Can we find someone in our Party to represent in the House? She is a determent to anything the President wants to get done.

[PaxEterna]

Question: why is no one in Congress nor our President proposing that the American people have the same benefits that they enjoy, courtesy of the US taxpayer?

[loki]

What is the difference between Government managed health care where government makes the decisions, and private health care insurance where accountants make your health care decisions?
Personally, Id rather take my chances with a gov employee deciding if I get treatment than someone in the private sector deciding to deny because they can save money if they do.

[loki]

Yeah I have one.

" Why should we believe anything anyone says in Washington anymore? Name one politician who has fully followed through on a promise made? "

[ShaunFM]

rather than a public option....­..could we not make it so the companies all must "Take all comers". For that the government would provide a stop loss for the company. For medical bills greater than XXXx for a person the government would reimburse the company. For those folks that can not pay for their insurance the gov would reimburse the company the amount of premium for the exposure until the person is able to pay.
No one should ever be allowed to die due to no coverage. Eighty year old folks with terminal cancer should know be allowed to have a knee replacement. An eighty year old that is active and ambulatory should be allowed to have the knee replacement.

[drricklippin]

My question is when are US politicians going to have the courage to initiate a necessary national dialogue on the imperative of US healthcare rationing?

Since currently most politicians are literally afraid to use that word. (Orwellian)

The issue is not if we will have rationing (we already have it now but based on selective ability to pay) but whether it will be fair and compassionate? And how and by whom will it be administered?.

Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampton,Pa

[lobear00]

Speaker Pelosi, gut every piece of legislation written by the Insurance Industry against the american people, everything the insurance industry put in all their bills, throw everything out the door, or flush it down the toilet.

Then speaker, get all members to sit down and rewrite bills that will be in the interest of the american people and only the people. Then do the same with the Credit Card Industry, dump every piece of legislation written by the credit card industry in the same manner.

[ReedYoung]

If I understand correctly, the CBO estimates only expenditures, but is unable, by its nature, to provide any estimates of projected savings that would be realized due to people getting treatment earlier than later, before illnesses and injuries require the most expensive types of treatments. Who are you consulting for that supplementary data to the CBO's estimates?

[StPeteDave]

I'd like to know why they are tying the insurance to employers, when they've sent most of the jobs overseas..­.I'd also like assurances that the administrative processes won't be outsourced to Bangalore.

[ReedYoung]

Will you propose an amendment tying the public option to Congress' own government-paid medical care, so that voting against my public option requires voting against your own?

[hulagirrrl]

Bravo, very strong point.

[gsteinum]

rep. baldwin: as a citizen of wisconsin, i'd like to ask you: who are you? (why haven't i heard of you before? what do you stand for?)

[treetracker]

I called her office yesterday and was told she supports HR676 that Weiner plans to propose as an amendment to HR3200 to replace it.

[Samalabear]

So Baldwin is a single-payer advocate? This is good news.

[Andreams]

Once again, for some people who have a problem understanding. A public option is a CHOICE, not a replacement. We need it.

For those of you who are against it, do you pay 77% of your income for a no frills, high deductible insurance policy? Have you been turned down for medical insurance? Are you going to die soon because you can't be treated for a disease even though you've paid for health insurance for years? Do you like having an insurance bureaucrat denying a procedure your doctor wants to perform? Do you want to pay a reasonable price for health insurance?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you want a public choice. If not, lucky you, but be careful - you might find yourselves in our shoes one day.

[norepublicanleftbehind]

Would you be willing to advocate that both houses of the legislature have their healthcare plans switched to the exact same healthcare options approved by both houses for the American people in order to save money and satnd by your programs? If yes, why? If no, why not?