Hoosiers Seek Specifics On Health Care Reform

INDIANAPOLIS -- Hoosiers may have mixed opinions when it comes to health care reform, but those on both sides of the debate said they were hoping to hear specifics from President Barack Obama during his speech to Congress Wednesday evening.

Indiana officials said there are more than 560,000 residents without health insurance on any given day, 6News' Renee Jameson reported.

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John Johnston is retired, disabled and uninsured, but said he would not be tuning into Obama's speech.

"(It's) the prostitution of the Constitution. You're supposed to take care of yourself. Don't look to the government for everything," he said while eating lunch at the Butler Inn along East Washington Street. "I'm not interested in it. I wouldn't accept it. It goes completely against the Constitution."

But at a bus stop down the road, a woman on Medicare and Medicaid, and a man with insurance, both said they think reform is necessary so everyone can have access to quality health care.

"Everybody should, the whole city should, the poor, everybody. And I'm glad (Obama) supports that," the man said.

"I think they should be able to give people who aren't able to have it, the ones that aren't able to get it," the woman said.

Bus rider Robert Wilhelm said he couldn't disagree more. He said he has good insurance through his employer, and doesn't want that to change.

"If they have a public option, that it's going to end up that employers are going to do away with ours just to save money, and that's really a concern," he said.

Obama told ABC's "Good Morning America" that, in retrospect, he should have offered more details about health care proposals a few months ago, and intended to clear up misconceptions in his speech Wednesday night.