Media round-up: Peterson's "spirited but polite/orderly/civil" health care town hall

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I just got back from Willmar, where Representative Collin Peterson held the first of two Town Hall meetings on health care reform. I'll share my thoughts after a bit, but the coverage so far from the legacy media pretty much sums up what happened.

And what didn't.

Hundreds of people showed up, creating the need for three overflow rooms in the Kandiyohi County Health and Human Services building. The West Central Tribune sums i up:

More than 30 people waited in line for the microphone so they could have a chance to speak this afternoon at a town hall meeting on health care reform, hosted in Willmar by Rep. Collin Peterson of the Seventh Congressional District.

Although the debate was spirited and occasionally noisy, it stayed orderly.

More than 300 people packed the community room at the Kandiyohi County Health and Human Services Building for the panel discussion and question-and-answer. At least 100 more filled three overflow rooms.

Those in the overflow rooms watched the panel on video monitors.

Minnesota Public Radio reports in Big crowd for Peterson's town hall forum on health care:

The meeting convened by DFL Congressman Collin Peterson was spirited but polite.

WCCO tells a similiar story here. I saw the Star Tribune and KARE-11 among the legacy media covering the event. The Republican Party sent its tracker, though a Peterson staffer said the presence o a tracker videotaping was routine and shrugged it off.

Photo: After being introduced by Willmar's State Representive Al Juhnke (left), Congressman Collin Peterson (standing)welcomes the ruly crowd at his first health care town hall meeting. Former Senator Dave Durenberger (center right) and other panelists wait their turn to share brief remarks before the lively but civil question and answer period begun

Comments

[Larry Paulson]

I use the St. Cloud VA Medical Center for my primary health care. The VA system should be a model for health care reform in this country. I and others spoke to that effect at Rep. Peterson's town hall.

VA health care includes medical centers, outpatient clinics, preventive care, centralized lab testing, mail order prescriptions and computerized medical records. The VA negotiates directly with pharmaceutical companies, so prescription drug costs are much lower than for private health plans. Mental health treatment is also offered at the VA, as is end of life counseling and nursing home care.

The VA serves the health care needs of millions of veterans, many with severe physical and mental disabilities. The VA is there to serve the medical needs of its patients -- not the bottom line of doctors, hospitals, insurance and drug companies.

I hope Rep. Peterson and his colleagues keep that in mind as they work to reform the nation's health care "industry."