With Washington aiming to look at newly drafted health care legislation after the Fourth of July holiday, U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-14, of Geneva decided to do some local research.

Foster held a round table in his Batavia office with about 20 people Wednesday, including local hospital officials, doctors, former patients and others concerned with both the state and debate of nationalized health care in America.

Foster said about one-third of complaints he has heard from his constituents are related to the health care system.

“It’s very important to realize that health care is often at the core of many families’ economic troubles,” Foster said. “I see that over and over again.”

Dr. Roop Shivpuri, a former obstetrician-gynecologist and current president of the Kane County Medical Society, suggested there should be more education involved with future health care plans as a preventative measure.

Shivpuri said she had many patients with diabetes who could not get the access to the education they needed about their disease.

Tom Wright, president of Delnor Community Hospital, agreed the current system is out of balance, but said it didn’t become that way overnight, and it wont be an immediate fix.

Wright said figuring out “how to stir the system in the right direction” will be a tricky issue.

“We’re going to have to be real careful about what happens,” Wright said.

Bill Wolford, vice chairman of the board of directors at Delnor, said the way hospitals, specifically emergency rooms, currently take care of people with illnesses is something that will not continue to work.

Wolford said people with no insurance who come in cannot afford to pay the hospital costs, so the bills continue to pile up for the hospital.

“There’s no money,” Wolford said. “It’s eventually a system that’s going to fail.”

An Abbott Labs official at the meeting who did not want to be named warned the group about passing a public plan, saying there might be long-term trade-offs people would not be willing to make.

After the meeting, Foster said any plan passed most probably would not guarantee everyone a bed in the Mayo Clinic, so to speak, but instead give everyone very basic coverage.

Foster also said he would like to see an incentive program for doctors who help their patients stay healthy, working as a preventative measure to save money long term.

While Foster did not believe money for public health insurance will come from the public, he does think there could be a mandate for minimum coverage insurance.

He also discussed different levels of health insurance for people of different health backgrounds, saying it could come into play for those who are extremely healthy and those who make preventable, poor health decisions.

Foster said people have changed their tune on the health care discussion since the early 1990s because many now believe the system needs a change.

“At this point, we need to put down partisan battles and name-calling and (figure out) something everyone can pay for,” Foster said.

Foster said most plans have been drawn up, and Congress and the Senate now have to pick and choose the best options. He said he hopes whatever program is passed can help cut the cost of health care for everyone.

“People (in Washington) are going to have a long discussion about this,” Foster said.

“I think it is (realistic) for this year,” Foster said, adding President Barack Obama has made this issue a top priority during his campaign and it has been gaining momentum since then.