To Loud to be Heard: The Health Care Debate

On Wednesday night, my Congressman Jim Langevin, held a constituents’ meeting on health care reform at the Warwick City Hall. The City Council chambers hold 475 people. Every spot was filled and more than 100 people assembled outside. In an effort to educate the public, Congressman Langevin presented a power point presentation. To his credit, he remained civil, patient and attentive. It is not easy to stay on message when people are yelling and screaming at you. It is also not easy to engage in real discussion when people come with an agenda of disruption and distraction.

Obviously, health insurance reform is a major issue for this country. It requires serious, open discussion. For REALTORS®, health insurance reform is about having access to affordable health insurance policies. Our status as independent contractors or self employed limits many agents to purchasing individual policies with high out of pocket costs, or simply to have no health insurance at all. Our membership survey found more than 300,000 REALTORS® have no health insurance at all, countless more have less than comprehensive policies and are at risk of losing coverage due to increased costs. It is a real challenge, in fact, a hardship for many of our members.

As a result, the National Association of REALTORS® is actively engaged in the conversation. We are working toward prudent, effective health care reform that recognizes our unique income situation as independent contractors or being self-employed. Also, we have been arguing for insurance reform and cost control. As Americans, we are involved in the conversation. As an Association, we seek a dialogue that addresses the needs of our members and staff. Know that we are doing that. I should also mention that NAR hasn’t endorsed ANY of the health care proposals floating around on Capitol Hill. And we won’t until a clearer picture of the final package emerges. That is why we are listening, learning and discussing. The issue and our membership require it.

You should expect that there will be more loud public forums. That is the way of public discourse now. It is a way for people to share the intensity of their position, but it would be very helpful to listen and learn before reacting. The majority of sound bites shared by the media demonstrated a total lack of understanding of the proposals. Ideology is important, but it should be argued with accurate information, not innuendo and propaganda. This applies to all sides of the issue. While it would be naïve to expect a change in process, it would be encouraging to work toward resolution of the issue with information and common sense. It is too important an issue to ignore or minimize. – Ron Phipps, 2009 NAR First Vice President