State Sen. Karen Keiser, chair of the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee, and state Rep. Eileen Cody, chair of the House Health Care and Wellness Committee, brought the national healthcare debate to Ballard and the 36th District Oct. 27.

The town hall meeting at the Swedish Medical Center was markedly different than what Keiser and Cody experienced while touring elsewhere in the state over the summer.

"This room is a lot different than the rooms we had in July and August," Cody said. "There were a lot of people concerned over whether we should do this at all."

Of the 26 Ballard, Magnolia, Belltown and Queen Anne residents at the Oct. 27 meeting, only one expressed concern over healthcare reform and the possibility of a federal healthcare system.

"It's almost incomprehensible that we don't have universal public healthcare," said one attendee.

"I'm pretty disgusted with the way it's gone on national level," said another.

Keiser said she thinks there will be a healthcare reform bill on the President's desk for approval by Christmas, though it will not include everything members of the 36th District want.

"It's been a tough, long road," Keiser said. "It's getting so close we can taste it, but that's the most dangerous part."

She said there will not be a single-payer, universal program this year. The bill will also not include coverage for non-citizens.

Cody said one of the most important things at this stage is making sure the bill "creates a floor and not a ceiling" for states – to make sure it doesn't hurt the progressive reform already done in Washington state.

The current healthcare reform bills will not affect the insurance provided by large employers, only small businesses and people without insurance, Keiser said.

Mary Lou Dickerson, 36th District Rep., said healthcare costs are predicted to double in the next 10 years.

Keiser said healthcare currently amounts to more than one-third of the state's general fund. There is enough money being spent to cover a reformed healthcare system, it is just distributed in the wrong places, she said.

Dickerson, as well as 36th District Rep. Reuven Carlyle and Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, opened the meeting with personal stories about struggles with the current healthcare system.

Kohl-Welles said the parents of her granddaughter had to pay $150 for her H1N1 shot because they do not have insurance. She said half of her senate pay goes toward assisted living for her mother.

Carlyle said reform, more than just focusing on the flow of money, needs to include each person taking ownership of their own health in order to deal with root problems, such as obesity and smoking.

Dickerson said her adult daughter was recently laid off and now she has no healthcare, and her son is only getting partial coverage through his employer.

"I take it rather personally, as I'm sure a lot of you do," she said. "Doing nothing is not an option."