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War, health care concerns for Moran
Published 12/1/2009 in Local News
By SHAJIA AHMAD
SCOTT CITY — Just a day ahead of President Obama's expected call for tens of thousands of more troops in Afghanistan, one of Kansas' own Washington insiders expressed his concerns about the escalating costs of an eight-year-long war.
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Shajia Ahmad/Telegram Inside the Scott County Courthouse Monday, Valyndia Payne, left, a deputy treasurer, and Shelly Wiley, center, a clerk, listen as Jerry Moran, R-Kan., touts his reasons for opposing the House-approved health care reform bill, which the Senate is debating this week.
"I'm anxious to hear what he has to say," Kansas Republican congressman Jerry Moran said Monday about his hopes for a long-term commitment in the region. "Winning isn't about creating democracy. That's one problem today, that we live in the moment. We don't have the level of troops for the commitments we've made around the world, and we need a full array of resources to make a difference in Afghanistan."
The Republican congressman stopped in on downtown businesses and local government chambers in Scott City and Dighton Monday as part of his annual listening tour, which is winding down as the end of the year approaches. Moran already has visited more than 60 of the 69 counties he represents in Kansas' First District over the course of this year.
Moran, who stopped at the Scott County Courthouse on his way out of town, mostly hears concerns about health care and what residents view as troublesome increases in government spending, conversations which give him direction in Washington, D.C., he said.
On Monday, Moran spoke about his reasons for voting against the $1 trillion, House-approved health care reform bill earlier this month, which the Senate opened debate on this week.
Moran said the proposed plans explode the deficit and contain billions in cuts to Medicare and proposed reimbursement rates that will affect Kansas' high per-capita population of seniors and critical access hospitals, which rely on the funding.
"There needs to be some type of reform, but I just don't know if they're heading in the right direction," Moran said to a small crowd inside the courthouse. "Only in Washington do you take a fund that's going broke and spend more money out of it."
Moran, chairman of the House Rural Health Care Coalition, said he supported other options to slow the escalating costs of health care — "common-sense" ideas such as tort reform; streamlining medical records; promoting health, fitness and wellness; supporting safety-net and critical access health care centers across the state; and meeting growing demands for health care professionals, especially in rural settings.
The House-approved plan aims to extend coverage to 36 million uninsured Americans and would bar insurers from denying coverage or charging higher premiums to individuals with pre-existing conditions.
Moran, who is running against fellow congressman Todd Tiahrt of the Fourth District for Sen. Sam Brownback's open seat in 2010, said he still has no plans to move his family to Washington, D.C. Moran commutes weekly to the nation's capital and back to his home and family in Hays.
Moran plans to be in Haskell County from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday for his next tour stop, at the Southwest Plains Regional Service Center, 900 West Lark Ave., in Sublette.
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