Passion runs through town hall healthcare reform meetings

(NECN/ABC: Brighten, Colo.) – Healthcare reform has stirred some of the most heated debate in recent memory. Lawmakers home on Congressional recess are giving constituents a chance to have their say at town hall meetings. Some like this Colorado event are informal. All are suppose to be informative — a place where lawmakers can exchange information and ideas “I am going to listen to my constituents with their constituents,” Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) said. The town hall meetings held on healthcare have not all been raucus, but all passionate. “Most of this is legitimate local dissent,” Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.) said. “Some of it expressed eloquently, some very vocally.” Heated rhetoric is not an exclusive town hall phenomenon. On her Facebook page, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin called the Obama plan “evil” and said it would lead to boards of bureaucrats deciding life and death. Reports out of Washington said the drug industry will lobby Capitol Hill to the tune of $150 million in support of the healthcare overhaul. But some lawmakers are weary of health industry “help.” Rep. Kathy Castor/D-FL “It’s not lost on me how badly the health insurance industry and the big drug companies do not want health reform,” Rep. Kathy Castro (D-Fla.) said. In his weekly address, President Obama linked his healthcare proposals with getting the economy back on track. “We must lay a new foundation for future growth and prosperity, and a key pillar of a new foundation is health insurance reform — reform that we are now closer to achieving than ever before,” President Obama said. So thus far the meetings, press conferences, and debate have done little to sway minds or alleviate confusion. But that doesn’t mean the effort will stop any time soon. ABC’s Clayton Sandell reports.