Medicare Concerns Dominate Town Hall Meeting

Concerns about Medicare and health care dominated a Town Hall meeting Sunday held by U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, who along with state legislators also fielded questions on issues ranging from deficits and collective bargaining to voter ID and ethanol. 

At age 54, Menomonee Falls resident Paul Race said he just misses the cutoff in U.S. Paul Ryan's proposal to reform Medicare for those younger than 55. 

"If it's good enough for the people 54 and younger... then I think it's good enough for people 55 and older," said Race, a former Marine who has been a teacher for 25 years.

He said under Ryan's plan he would have to "go shopping to insurance companies" whose administrative costs will be higher than under Medicare and who may be unwilling to cover people with pre-existing conditions. 

He predicted he will have to spend a greater share of his retirement funds on health care than will those 55 and older. 

Sensenbrenner said, "I'm not here to say he's (Ryan) right or he's wrong, but at least he's got a plan."

He said if Congress doesn't reform Medicare, benefits will not be there for citizens like Race. "It's completely imploding," Sensenbrenner said.

Darcy Gustavvson of Brookfield said Congress should prioritize funding for essential social nets such as "decent, affordable health care" for seniors who need it most.

"Your job is to fund what the American people want," she said, not turn Medicare into a "voucher system." 

Sensenbrenner, who said it wasn't a voucher proposal, said he favors other reforms, including creating more regional and national insurance pools, more tax equality between employer-funded health insurance and self-funded plans, and medical liability reform to reduce unnecessary medical tests.

David Furrer of Sussex urged federal lawmakers to ferret out "fraud, waste and inefficiency" before changing Medicare and social security.

Others applauded when several citizens said the United States was spending too much money on wars it didn't need to be waging.

Brookfield resident Mary Magnuson asked the state legislators in attendance how they could support the governor's budget "knowing that hundreds of thousands" of people protested it and it is balanced "on the backs of the working class."

Vukmir said the budget closed a $3.6 billion deficit without gimmicks and one-time revenue sources. 

"This is the first time that we were able to put our fiscal house in order, which is what the people of the state of Wisconsin asked us to do last November," she said, drawing applause from a large share of the audience of about 75 people.

Magnuson, who sparred briefly with Sensenbrenner, asked Vukmir to defend corporate tax cuts in the state budget.

"People like to characterize this and turn this into a class warfare issue," Vukmir said. "We’re trying to generate business in the State of Wisconsin." 

A University of Wisconsin — Madison student challenged lawmakers to cite evidence of students committing voter fraud by voting twice, saying the voter ID bill could disenfranchise students who don't have proper IDs, especially out-of-state students.

"We don't know" if there has been student voter fraud," Vukmir said. "There has certainly been reports, and the opportunity is there.... So we want to firm that up. It's about protecting the integrity of the voting process."

Brookfield resident Richard Gasso praised a recent vote in the U.S. Senate to curtail ethanol subsidies. Sensenbrenner agreed, saying he was surveying U.S. automobile manufacturers about whether use of certain ethanol brands void vehicle warranties.

"Ethanol is bad fuel," he said. "It actually increases pollution because you have to expend more fuel."

Don Bardonner of Brookfield urged Congress to push for more energy independence from Mideast oil. 

"There's a lot of resources in this country that we're not tapping and I'm not happy about it," Bardonner said.

Sensenbrenner pointed to various pending bills, such as one to expedite the permitting process for off-shore drilling. He said the U.S. needs to drill more of its own oil and simultaneously pursue more renewable alternatives.

Paul Race, who queried Sensenbrenner on the Medicare issue, asked state lawmakers to defend their decision to exempt police and fire fighters from the sweeping collective bargaining and pension and health contribution changes they imposed on all other public workers.

"If you're going to bust my union," said Race, a teacher, "would you please do the same for fire and police?"

Race said Walker exempted them because not doing so would be "political suicide" because they had supported him in this gubernatorial campaign.

Sen. Zipperer said he understood that position and added he heard the same message from Brookfield Mayor Steve Ponto, who wanted the budget repair provisions extended to police and fire unions. The governor and Republican legislators left the exemptions in place.

Zipperer said the governor did so because he was afraid of those public safety workers "walking off the jobs and stuff like that."

But he said he supported looking for equity and increased financial tools to local governments in future budgets.