Lawmakers pass health care reform legislation

Forestville resident Gretchen Jones retired in 2001, and while she can afford her current health care plan, she said she has concerns about whether she will be able to maintain her plan if federal lawmakers pass health care reform legislation. "I'm lucky now — I don't take a lot of medication, but if I do, can I afford it?" said Jones, 62. "I don't want anyone to tell me what physicians I have to go to." On Monday, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) held his first health care Town Hall meeting at Prince George's Community College in Largo to hear Prince George's County residents' concerns, dispel myths and share information about the current status of health care reform. Other Town Hall meetings are planned to be held across the state. Affordable and adequate health care is a central concern to county residents, where the high number of uninsured patients has put the county's public hospital system in debt for more than a decade. Residents seemed mixed in their support for or against health care reform. "Make no mistake — health care is a priority of the Obama administration [and] of the Congress," Cardin said to the nearly 500 people in attendance. "The first thing that needs to be fixed is the 46 million [people] without health care in the U.S."

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