Sen. Ben Nelson didn't hear anything in Norfolk at a town hall meeting Tuesday on health care reform that he hadn't heard before.
Nelson, who has been holding the meetings across the state, said there have been few surprises for him this week.
About 500 people attended the Norfolk meeting, which was held Tuesday morning at the Lifelong Learning Center on the Northeast Community College campus.
Nelson said the only thing even remotely surprising was a concern that if the federal government kept electronic health care records on citizens, that would amount to intrusion. The Democratic U.S. senator said he knew that concern existed, but wasn't aware that many people shared it.
"That is a little surprising," Nelson told reporters at a press conference after the meeting.
Nelson said the opinions he commonly hear range from those who want Congress to do nothing to reform health care to those who want Congress to do everything.
Nelson said he doesn't support the existing Senate or House bills on health care and doesn't think either will pass, but he does support reform if it would make health care better.
The most frequent comment he heard from constituents is that they do want health care reform to increase the size of the deficit. That's a sentiment he shares, Nelson said.
Before taking questions from the audience, Nelson said he wanted to address some myths about the Senate bill.
"I've read the bill," Nelson said.
It is not true that illegal aliens will be provided health care under the legislation, nor is it true that the bill requires public funding for abortions, he said.
"I have found that lies travel faster than truth," Nelson said.
Lee Klein of Battle Creek, a small business owner and Madison County commissioner, said health care costs need to be controlled.
In the past year, health care insurance premiums for Madison County employees went up 18.34 percent. "That's unsustainable," Klein said.
Nelson said he agrees that costs must be contained. The nation can't continue to pay such large increases, including for Medicare, which will be insolvent unless something is done, he said.
Jim Sinek of Norfolk, chief executive officer of Faith Regional Health Services in Norfolk, said there are some things in the House bill that make sense, such as paying doctors for performance.
But it's ridiculous to think the health care reform measures being discussed won't increase the deficit, nor increase the amount of taxes paid by employees and employers, Sinek said.
Ron Haselhorst of Norfolk said there are too many so-called czars in the current Obama administration. That was a sentiment shared by many of those asking questions and expressing opinions.
Nelson said czars - individuals given sweeping responsibility and authority over a specific topic or issue - are not a new concept and were used as far back as President Richard Nixon. Many people view them as generated by special interests, which is why they are frowned upon, he said.
Nelson said the presidential administration needs to do a better job of clarifying and explaining their purpose.
Nelson said he is in no hurry to get health care reform passed. Everything must be considered to see how it may intentionally or unintentionally hurt various factors.
There should be no winners and losers in the reform, but rather, everyone should win, he said.
"The key to success is to do what's right," he said. "The key to failure is trying to please everybody."
At times on Tuesday, it appeared that those attending the meeting wanted to talk more about their distrust of government or its problems instead of health care.
Nelson said he understands the anger and frustration that citizens have, but part of it is because of the information age that now exists. From blogs to programs that provide views of a special interest, citizens frequently are told not to trust government.
And, of course, Washington politicians have brought some of it on themselves, he said.
Nelson said although there isn't a health care plan that he supports now, he would support a plan if it is "right for Nebraska and it has to be right for the country."
