Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/voices-of-health-care-reform-found-across-the-nation Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Amid the race for health care reform legislation on Capitol Hill, the American public has been voicing its views on the debate at locally-based town halls. PBS stations across the country have captured some of those voices and concerns. Judy Woodruff reports. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JIM LEHRER: That follows the latest on the health care reform debate. The Obama administration sent out signals this weekend about possible compromises. That was the result of debate and dissent in and around town halls around the country.Our PBS colleagues have captured some of those voices and concerns. Judy Woodruff reports. JUDY WOODRUFF: From New Hampshire to Iowa to Montana, and points beyond, Americans have flocked to town halls to voice their opinions on health care reform this August.In Charleston, West Virginia, Larry Medley stood outside a recent meeting held by Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller. His sign said it all. LARRY MEDLEY: I don't think it makes a lot sense to so quickly surrender one-sixth of our economy to the government. I think we — I'm not saying that our present health care system is perfect; I'm not saying that at all. But, certainly, I think that, you know, we don't need to jump in and discard it and throw the baby out with the bathwater. JUDY WOODRUFF: Amy Bord was part of a small meeting with Rockefeller. Her son has leukemia, and she and her husband recently saw their insurance cut off because it had reached a cap on payments of $1 million. AMY BORD: We want to pay what we owe, fairly, but we're not able to do that, and nobody's out there to help us. But if we didn't work and we didn't contribute, we wouldn't have to worry about it. And we'd be able to spend the time that we do have at home with our twins who we feel like we haven't seen in the last four months because we've been at the hospital all the time. JUDY WOODRUFF: Rockefeller later made the case for a government plan — the so-called public option — that would compete with private insurers. SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER, D-W.Va.: My guess is that public insurance at the beginning, out of the sheer terror of the thought of it, all wrong, will get relatively few people, but I think those will grow as people — it will force people to become more sophisticated about the insurance market and what they're getting charged.