Webb, Warner pressed on health

An Augusta County conservative wants Virginia’s Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Jim Webb, to hold a Valley town hall on health care reform on the night of Sept. 6 and has reserved the Riverheads High School auditorium for that purpose.

Neither Warner nor Webb is in a particular rush to pencil in the date, at least not yet.

“I’ve been trying to get in touch with the senators with questions about the health care bill,’’ said David Karaffa, a cardiac care nurse at Augusta Health and recent candidate for the House District 20 Republican nomination.

Karaffa said others in the community had talked with him about the same concern.

So Karaffa has decided to pay $275 and reserve the Riverheads auditorium for Sept. 6 and invite the two senators to speak to Shenandoah Valley residents.

“I decided to do everything short of picking them up and give them the opportunity to speak to constituents in the Valley. They are not speaking anywhere in the state and it’s their responsibility to speak,’’ Karaffa said.

Riki Parikh, Warner’s deputy press secretary, said he is uncertain whether Warner could attend.

He said the senator is planning to conduct some telephone town halls. And next week, Warner will discuss health care reform with doctors in Roanoke and small business owners in Charlottesville.

Parikh said Warner also plans to hold at least one traditional town hall meeting when a health care bill is before the Senate.

Kimberly Hunter, Webb’s press secretary, said the senator is winding up a two-week visit to Asia and will return Sunday. She said Webb is seeking opportunities to discuss health care reform and also is awaiting a Senate health care bill to look at.

She said Webb believes in reform that would make health care more affordable and accessible. “This debate is part of it. The town halls are not bad. They are engaging Americans in the debate,’’ Hunter said.

Hunter said if Webb is unable to attend the meeting at Riverheads it will be because of a scheduling conflict.

Karaffa said he has studied the health care legislation and said “we need clarification and some explanation and the ability to engage our senators.”

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, plans to hold three town hall sessions, starting Sept. 3 in Roanoke with another two days later at 10 a.m. Sept. 5 at Turner Ashby High School Auditorium in Bridgewater. Another session will be held in Lynchburg.

Another local lawmaker, Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Ivy, has been holding town halls since Congress broke for the August recess. The response has been mostly favorable.

That contrasts with other meetings held by lawmakers across the country, where protesters have turned out en masse to voice their objections to the health care reform proposal touted by President Barack Obama.

Opponents have been particularly rankled by the initiative’s cost and fears that government will wrest from patients decision-making on treatment options.