Belinda Grant/Nevada Appeal Sen. Harry Reid greets Von Smith, a 45-year resident of Carson City, on his way into speaking at the Carson City Senior Citizens Center on Monday afternoon.
At a Monday town hall meeting on health care at the Carson City Senior Citizens Center, U.S. Sen. Harry Reid said the system only benefits prescription drug and insurance companies, not those who really need it.
Several seniors told stories about how the system left them out.
Reid, D-Nev., passed the microphone to a woman who said she signed up for the new Medicare-approved drug discount card after she was told that her expensive medications would be covered. A few weeks later, she found out they were pulled off. Now she holds a card "that is no good to me."
Under the new Medicare bill, all beneficiaries who do not receive prescription drug coverage through Medicaid can buy a Medicare-approved drug discount card.
"We have a health care system that leaves something to be desired," Reid said.
About 70 people, mostly seniors, attended the meeting to ask questions ranging from electronic touch-screen voting to illegal immigration.
When Reid said he would rather have the National Guard patrolling the country's borders than in Iraq, the audience applauded.
Also receiving a positive response was Reid's support of prescription drug reimportation, which allows people to go to Canada to buy cheaper prescription drugs and bring them back to the states.
"We have 44 million people with no health insurance and many more who are inadequately covered," he said. "Nevada leads the nation with (those) uninsured."
Reid said he would like every employer to offer insurance to employees through pool programs, which would allow even small businesses to afford health insurance.
After the meeting, Reid said the crowd had asked good questions on a wide range of topics. The Carson City visit was his third town hall meeting Monday.
Margaret Mello of Carson City, wearing a John Kerry campaign button, said she was impressed by Reid's support of the environment.
Karen Priest, 64, said Reid responded well to questions about Medicare, corporate responsibility and the environment.
"I thought he did a very adequate job of answering the questions and stating his opinion," she said.
Becky Bosshart can be contacted at bbosshart@nevadaappeal.com
