Berkley says it’s time for action on health care reform

By Kyle B. Hansen

Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009 | 8:18 p.m.

U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley said insurance company’s have had enough time to “get their act together,” and she will vote for health care reform, whether or not it includes a public option.

Berkley spent more than 20 minutes on Saturday outlining her priorities for health care reform during a town hall meeting at UNLV and spent the rest of the hour answering questions.

She promised the audience the final bill would include rules to keep insurers from rejecting patients because of preexisting conditions or to reduce their coverage when a person gets sick, limits on out-of-pocket expenses and co-pays, no annual or lifetime coverage caps and free preventative care.

While she does not know exactly what the final bill will look like, Berkley said, she supports health care reform and will vote for it with or without the public option and many of the other controversial components being debated.

“Frankly, I think the insurance companies have had enough time to get their act together. I think it’s time we take care of the American people,” she said.

About 75 people showed up for the meeting — a small and much less boisterous gathering compared to the hundreds who attended similar meetings in August.

She said she wanted to hold a meeting in the fall because she thought by now she would be able to present almost-finished legislation.

“We’re not there yet,” she said. “But maybe in a way, this is even better because we have one more opportunity to hear from my constituents and see if there are any last-minute changes that we will attempt to make.”

The change in the crowd — which was generally supportive — may be because the debate has moved on from the initial discussion of whether or not there should be reform to what it should look like.

“Now that we’re down in the weeds, we’re not talking about the sexy issues,” Berkley said. “They’re not the details people are going to turn out to town halls for, but they’re issues that are very important to the health care system.”

For Frank and Nancy Cartwright of North Las Vegas, the message was just what they wanted to hear.

“We are really concerned about health care,” Nancy Cartwright said afterward. “Right now, health care just sucks.”

Frank Cartwright has cancer and said, despite having what he considered good health insurance, the couple had to declare bankruptcy because of the cost.

“Why are they getting rich when we can’t get the care we need?” Nancy Cartwright said of the insurance companies.

Keith Caceres said he came to the forum without any particular agenda and just wanted to hear more about the health care bill.

“The bill is 1,100 pages, so I can’t read it myself, but I wanted to hear how it compares to the priorities the president laid out in his address to Congress,” he said.