08/04/2009 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Minutes of 8/4/2009 to approve the reappointment of Meenal Parikh to the Fair Housing Review Board for the term of January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2012. The motion was seconded by Councilman Orlowski and passed unanimously. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION 1) Carrie Copfer, 25601 Timber Cove, spoke on Resolution 2009-85 supporting President Obama's health care plan principles. She knows a little something about health care because she formerly was the controller and chief financial officer of a hospital. She feels, if Council votes yes to this, they are representing this is the view and opinions of citizens of North Olmsted. She thinks that it's very presumptuous on such a contentious issue such as this. If Council votes yes, she expects they will have read the 1,000+ pages of the bill that supposedly represents these principles. She hopes Council will do the right thing and let the people contact their federal legislators individually and let them know their concerns directly rather than through this resolution. 2) Dennis Lambert, 25057 Carey Lane, said normally he would agree with Mrs. Copfer regarding that. But on this issue, there is so much misinformation that has been put out publicly regarding this particular attempt by the President, an attempt that has been going or! for at least 20 years of administrations that have failed to move us into an opportunity for people to have access to health care that normally would not get there. He has looked at this bill, and misinformation is almost scary regarding the threats, the misrepresentations of what it really means. First, the fact that they call it Obama care when he only went to Congress and asked them to draw up something that would be acceptable to everybody. This is a shared plan, and the idea is it's going to save every American in this country money in health care, money in deductibles. He is a former federal employee who has an excellent health care plan and doesn't need any help with his health care plan except his costs keep rising because providers can't meet all the challenges that are out there right now in this wild free-for-all market that is health care. One of the biggest expenses is the fact that, under the current law, any person can go into the hospital whether they can pay for it or not and get health care treatment. That's a burden on the system. He also suspects that there is an underlying push from trial lawyers who are afraid there may beano-fault clause in the bill which would limit lawsuits. There are a lot of forces working on this; but the bottom line is, just as every person here needs to have automobile insurance so we are all protected, so it goes with health care. If you have insurance, you have to pay for the person who doesn't. The fact of the matter is, whatever it takes to subsidize the low income people, those who cannot afford health insurance but are going to get it, will be far less than the cost of a runaway health system that we have right now. The fact that the city is willing to take a stand on this issue is an important factor. It's a social issue. It affects everyone in this community whether they have insurance or not. And he thinks most people who are objecting are being hounded by fear mongers who want to call it socialized medicine. It's far from it, and it hasn't all been worked out yet. They're going to come up with inclusion that's got to be by-partisan. So stepping up forward and doing something positive for society is not far beyond Council's reach. 3) Don Pangrac, 23470 Sharon Drive. Piggy-backing pn Mrs. Copfer's and Mr. Lambert's comments, there are no free lunches. To the best of his knowledge, there is nothing in this legislation that addresses the physician shortage which is facing this country. The physicians he 8