AMANDA McCOY/SUN HERALD U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor is greeted by community members at the front steps of the Hancock Courthouse on Monday. Taylor held a town hall meeting where his constituents could ask questions about their concerns.

BAY ST. LOUIS — U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor talked insurance, abortion, health care and other issues Monday night before a standing-room-only crowd at the Hancock County Courthouse.

Monday’s gathering was much less heated than Taylor’s town hall meeting last month in Moss Point. Monday, about 250 people attended, but at the meeting last month, upwards of 1,000 people showed up, while hundreds waited outside. Those in Moss Point were spurred by conservative groups who opposed President Barack Obama’s health-care proposals. The event Monday was also much less tense than the last one, at which Taylor was interrupted many times and a deputy asked the crowd for order. There were very few interruptions Monday night.

AMANDA McCOY/SUN HERALD Rep. Taylor talks about his opposition to proposed changes to the health-care system.
AMANDA McCOY/SUN HERALD People wait their turn to be called on during an open forum town hall meeting hosted by U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor on Monday at the Hancock County Courthouse in Bay St. Louis.
AMANDA McCOY/SUN HERALD U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor is greeted by community members at the front steps of the Hancock Courthouse on Monday. Taylor held a town hall meeting where his constituents could ask questions about their concerns.
AMANDA McCOY/SUN HERALD U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor listens as a community member asks him a question during a town hall meeting for the public on Monday at the Hancock County Courthouse. The health care bill and taxes were popular topics at the meeting.
AMANDA McCOY/SUN HERALD The Hancock County Courthouse was completely full as community members gathered to ask questions of Congressman Gene Taylor during a town hall meeting on Monday. Health care, taxes and illegal immigration were just some of the issues addressed at the meeting.

The congressman repeated his disapproval of Obama’s health-care reform proposals which are in Congress now. The plan has drawn the ire of fiscal conservative groups, as well as television and radio personalities. Taylor, a conservative Democrat, has said he opposed the Obama plan because it would create around $1 trillion in new debt. The rate as which funds are drying up from the Medicare trust fund also scares Taylor. He said some estimates say around 2017 there won’t be enough money in the Medicare trust fund to pay for the program.

“We can’t afford new promises,” Taylor said. “We have to keep the promises we have already made.”

Taylor said he wants to continue the fight to repeal exemptions to anti-trust laws that were given to insurance companies decades ago. Taylor, who lost his home to Hurricane Katrina, said the exemption to that law was given in the 1940s and only intended to last for one year.

He also said legislation that prevents the government from shopping around to get the best price on pharmaceuticals should be repealed. He said that provision was stuck in a bill by someone who later left Congress and went to work in the drug industry. He said there are big differences in prices for pharmaceuticals, noting the prescription sleep aid Ambien costs about 50 cents per pill, while Ambien CR costs $6 for each pill. He believes the government could buy more generics if the law were repealed.

Taylor was asked about abortion measures in Congress, but he said he has a “100 percent pro-life voting record.”

“I am going to remain pro-life,” Taylor said.

Taylor also told the crowd he was against the North American Free Trade Agreement, and other similar measures passed years ago because he believes the U.S. manufacturing base needs to be increased. He notes local companies went out of business because they couldn’t compete with others who sent their operations to Mexico and other countries after the U.S. entered into free trade agreements. Taylor blamed Wall Street for backing NAFTA.

“Wall Street says it will be good for you, that we are going to make up for this with financial services and we don’t need manufacturing,” Taylor said. “The same guys who were conning us last fall were the same guys who conned us with NAFTA.”