Hundreds come for Delphi town hall

DELPHI, Ind. (WLFI) - Hundreds of people turned out to express their views on health care reform at town hall meetings, but some wondered if their opinions were actually heard.

People at the town hall meetings are passionate about health care reform, whether they support it or not ,and they want their voices heard.

U.S. Representative Joe Donnelly said while their input is in a small forum, he and other congressional leaders are taking it to Washington to help form policy decisions.

"People know in Washington that the folks in America, all of us, are in charge of this legislation. Not anybody in a room in Washington," said Donnelly.

The voice of the public is what Congressman Donnelly said he wants to hear. He said he has not formed an opinion on this health care reform bill. He wants to hear the people's opinions to help him decide.

Some attendees were in support of reform.

"My daughter is in the service and when she was stationed in Iraq, she had a lump in he breast. She got some of the best medical care in the world," said attendee Carolyn Frazier. "If it's good enough for our service men and women, why couldn't it be a choice for every person in the United States?"

Others were more hesitant.

"It's just gonna throw private health insurance out of the business because they're not going to be able to compete with the government," said Melinda Smit. "I asked him, just slow down, please slow down."

Some people got so passionate, the congressman had to pry the microphone away from them to give others a turn. Even the congressman found himself at times struggling to speak over the heated crowd.

While Congressman Donnelly opened Wednesday's meeting saying that the town hall was open to all issues, people mostly stuck to health care.

Donnelly said that's the way it's been at the majority of recent town halls he's be a part of.