Congressman Gerry Connolly participated in a National Forum on Health Care Reform held July 1 at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale.  Connolly told reporters that he would not support a health care reform plan that would impose a tax on health care benefits that employees receive from employers.  He also told the media that he expects the bill that passes the House will include some form of public plan option.

Here is an article from the Potomac News and Messenger

Connolly: Taxing benefits is a no-go for health care reform

BY JONATHAN HUNLEY

July 1, 2009 - Page 1

Rep. Gerald E. “Gerry” Connolly said Tuesday that he will not support health care reform that requires taxing workers for the benefits they receive from employers.

“That would be a killer here in my district,” said Connolly, who represents much of Prince William County. “However, I think almost everything else ought to be on the table, including the public option.”

The 11th District Democrat made his comments in a conference call with reporters to preface an appearance Wednesday with President Barack Obama.

They’ll be at a town hall meeting on health care at Northern Virginia Community College’s Annandale campus.
Connolly said he expects that whatever legislation passes the House of Representatives will include some kind of public plan.

The Senate is looking at public options and some sort of large nonprofit co-op.

“I’m agnostic between the two,” Connolly said, “but I do believe that you have to acknowledge that private insurance has failed when you’ve got 46 million people uninsured entirely.”

The congressman also said that the loss of medical insurance benefits for lots of workers and increases in health care costs have caused lots of people, even perhaps former opponents of reform, to “rethink the system we have now.”

“I’m certainly picking that up from my constituents, including here in Prince William County,” Connolly said.

Also on the call were two Northern Virginia residents who told their health care horror stories.

One of them was Alicia Brewster, who lives in Herndon. She has a full-time job, but her employer doesn’t provide insurance. So she had to seek her own coverage.

Brewster started having heart palpitations and a rapid heart rate a bit more than a year ago.  It turned out that the conditions were only the benign consequences of low blood pressure, the 27-year-old said.  But her insurance company didn’t want to cover some tests and specialist visits, and her monthly health care costs rose 60 percent.

The bills were so much that Brewster could no longer afford her one-bedroom apartment and had to move in with a friend.

She said she’s OK with a “slight increase” in taxes to fix health care so long as the increase is “reasonable.”

“At this point in time what I’m paying is not reasonable, and there’s no real control over how much they want to increase my premium,” Brewster said.

http://www.insidenova.com/isn/news/politics/article/connolly_taxing_benefits_is_a_no-go_for_health_care_reform/38529/