An intimate group of seven students went to the Varsity in Hughes-Trigg to listen to Andy Wilson, a registered lobbyist who focuses on campaign finance and environmental issues, discuss health care and finance.
Most of the audience members were from Democracy Matters, a nation-wide organization with an SMU chapter, which was founded by SMU senior Cody Meador.
According to Meador, younger voters can be discouraged about voting when they see the millions of dollars donated to candidates. Voters begin to question whether or not their votes really make a difference.
“If congress is listening to who is funding their campaigns rather than voters on election day, there’s a serious problem,” Wilson said.
He said within the past nine months, Democrats have raised more money than Republicans by a 3:1 ratio because there are currently more Democrats in politics.
“This worries me,” Wilson said, who is a liberal.
According to Wilson, many Democratic members spend two to three hours looking for ways to raise money for campaigns rather than discussing bills and doing their jobs. Democrats who are up for re-election will spend more time raising money than someone who is new to the office.
Another major issue Wilson discussed was the health care debate.
Wilson said more people are uninsured, which is causing the cost of health care to rise, which is currently the biggest problem in our country. He said the uninsured are more likely to wait until health conditions become bad before seeking any help, which would most likely be in the emergency room, which can cost a lot more than going to a doctor’s office and paying $20 for a penicillin shot.
He also said people are opting to remain uninsured maybe due to the fact that they are unable to pay for health insurance costs, or maybe because many health care systems to do not want to take the risk of insuring someone with pre-existing conditions such as cancer or AIDS because it will cause them to lose money. Health care companies would profit more from paying for someone who is healthy and needs annual check-ups than rather than someone who is already sick.
“Preventative health care should come from your family doctor,” SMU freshman Chardonnay Phelan said.
It is more profitable for health care companies to charge young, healthy people the premium price to cover some of the expenses of people who have been in serious car accidents or have had major surgeries, for example.
During the health care debates, the public option, which is the most controversial, has been brought up. The public option would require the government to sell health care and 53 to 57 percent of Americans favor this option, according to Wilson.
Health care companies would most benefit from another option that has been presented, which would require every American citizen to have health care. Then the companies would have more people paying for care, which would allow them to have more funds to pay for care for people who have cancer or major injuries.