PORT ANGELES — An invitation-only health care forum set Friday by the Clallam County Democratic Party Central Committee will include speakers from local hospitals and health clinics.
Both U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, whose congressional district includes the North Olympic Peninsula, and State Rep. Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, one of three state legislators representing the Peninsula in Olympia, are also scheduled to speak.
But the forum is expected to bear little resemblance to some of the highly charged town hall events around the country that have produced shouting matches and angry exchanges between politicians and constituents over President Obama’s health care reform plan.
Only 60 and 70 people with RSVPs are expected to attend.
The forum is not open to the general public.
Dubbed a “listening session,” the forum is primarily intended for the central committee and county precinct officers, according to Clallam Democratic Party Chairman John Marrs.
It will run from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday in the conference room at the Red Lion Hotel, 221 N. Lincoln St., Port Angeles.
But Clallam County Republican Party Chairman Dick Pilling, who will attend the forum “not to disrupt Mr. Dicks, but rather to hear what he has to say,” predicted that demonstrators would rally outside the hotel on the Waterfront Trail against Obama’s health care proposals. (See accompanying story.)
Canadian health care
Mary Louise Meadow, an American living in Canada who serves on an advisory committee on end-of-life care at the University of Victoria, will take the place of Dr. Tom Locke, public health officer for Clallam and Jefferson counties, said Marrs.
She will speak on health care in Canada.
Marrs also will speak at Friday’s forum.
The other speakers:
• Eric Lewis, Olympic Medical Center CEO.
• Liz Mueller, Jamestown S’Klallam tribe vice chairwoman.
• Jerry Charles, head of veterans health services at Lower Elwha Klallam Health Clinic.
• Mary O’Neil-Garrett, vice president of instruction at Peninsula College.
• Jane Pryne, Port Angeles School District superintendent, or school district board Chairman Steve Baxter.
• Frank Hansen or Victor Velazquez of Quileute Tribal School.
• Barry Burnett, Education Association president.
The threat of disruptive demonstrations nixed any thoughts Dicks had about holding a public forum on health care while he is in Port Angeles on Friday — and when he gives a presentation to the Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce’s weekly luncheon at Fort Worden State Park Commons at noon Monday.
Dicks often visits the North Olympic Peninsula during Congress’ annual summer recess, which ends Sept. 1.
He sometimes holds town hall meetings, but won’t this time, said his aide, George Behan.
“If you are watching what’s happening around the country, there are these disruptive groups coming in and to these types of information sessions trying to make their point in opposition to any health care reform,” Behan said in an interview with the Peninsula Daily News on Tuesday.
“A lot of these groups are using the opportunity to create a distraction.”
Behan said Dicks is not afraid of disruptions that might occur at town hall meetings, but “they just don’t seem to be productive.”
In addition, the House has not agreed on a final health care bill, Behan said.
“There’s a lot of misinformation at some meetings you are seeing across the country, and that’s another reason it’s difficult to sponsor health care forums.”
Dicks addressed the noon Rotary Club in Bremerton on Monday.
He told the group that he believed health care legislation will pass if the bill is found by the Congressional Budget Office to have enough revenue built in — through taxes and fees — so it does not contribute to the national deficit.
But a key sticking point for Dicks, he said, is a change in the way Medicare reimbursements are handled.
Washington state doctors get far less than their counterparts in states such as Texas, he said, for offering the same care.
If the final health care bill doesn’t change that, he won’t vote for it, he said.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
