Update: Steny Hoyer (D-MD) gets booed at townhall…

Update from TheHill go read the whole thing! Steny tried to filibuster with a bunch of panelists and the crowd got mighty pixxed:

…at the conclusion of Hoyer’s planned speech, when five panelists were introduced and asked to give their own remarks, the crowd turned on its congressman, erupting angrily at having to continue to wait for their chance to ask questions.

“We don’t want to hear this!,” a man’s voice rose above the crowd “Get to the questions!” A chant of “We want questions! We want questions!” soon broke out

After a few questions about the cost of the healthcare overhaul, Hoyer repeated emphatically his pledge not to vote for a healthcare bill that wasn’t paid for, a statement that only drew a mix of boos and laughter….

…“A woman earlier asked who’s going to keep the health insurance companies honest. I’m concerned who’s going to keep the government honest,” an unidentified man asked Hoyer, prompting a roar from the crowd fit for a championship basketball game, as people in the packed bleacher seats stomped their feet, amplifying the noise….

He was rolling out the EEEEvil insurance company (TM) line when he got a round of boos…

A report from outside the townhall fromThe Sundries Shack via Instapundit:

Tonight, a standing room-only crowd of over 1500 people packed the gymnasium of North Point High School in my hometown of Waldorf, MD to attend a health care town hall meeting with Congressman Steny Hoyer….(go read the whole thing)

Here are some helpful facts as the new attack, this time ginning up class warfare HARD against insurance companies,  gets rolled out next week. Courtesy of a comment on TheAtlantic where Ambinder gently lays out all the approved journOlist talking points for Team TOTUS:

mfsheldon (Replying to: djaymick) September 1, 2009 4:58 PM:

Obama is not honest in his rhetoric.

– 61% of major health plans are non-profit. NON-PROFIT

– The other 39% earn a WHOPPING 3.2% profit margin, same as Wal-Mart. Google earns 25%. Google CEOs get invited to appear in Obama campaign ads. Insurance company CEOs, including non-profits, get villainized.

– 82% of hospitals are non-profit are government run. About half of nursing homes are as well.

Health care insurance and provision of services is one of the least profit-oriented sectors in the economy, given the widespread participation of non-profits.

Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Companies make 15% profit margins, roughly. That is real money. However, other innovation-oriented technology companies often make more. Apple earns 15%. Google earns 25%. Microsoft earns closer to 30%. Pharma is not out of line with other R&D lead industries.

As for the uninsured, it is actually 46 million PEOPLE.

– 9 million are illegal immigrants
– 2 million are legal residents who can return to their home country if they get too sick, so they do not insure themselves
– 12 million are actually covered by Medicaid but have not signed up because they are not sick
– 15 million are uninsured, yet make more than $75,000 and CHOOSE not to purchase coverage

When you get down to it, the number of people who fall through the cracks because of economic reasons amounts to…

8 million people.

That is about 3% of the population.

Keep in mind another important factor. This data is collected by the US Census every year and they ask the following question.

“In the last year, were you without health insurance coverage?”

What that means is that anyone who was between jobs or failed to re-up their policy for any reason gets included.

This probably overstates the actual level gap in coverage significantly because lots of people may go for a month without coverage between jobs, even in a good economy….