The Newton County Democratic Party is holding a health care town hall meeting Thursday at 7 p.m. in the jury panel room at the Newton County Judicial Center at 1132 Usher Street.

A panel of health care experts will discuss the current health care reform bills and will attempt to separate facts from myths, as well as answer questions from the audience, local Democratic member Andre Cooper said.

The event is being sponsored by the local Democratic Party, the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and Organize America.

There are five health care bills currently being considered in the U.S. House and Senate, and debates continue on several issues, including whether to include a public option and what that option would entail. As of a month ago, the public option seemed to have been abandoned but the debate is thriving again. To see how some of the bills stack up on this and other issues visit kff.org/healthreform/sidebyside.cfm.

U.S. Congressman Jim Marshall (D–Macon) recently held a town hall meeting and said at the time that he did not support of any of the current bills, because none of them cut down on the costs of the system.

Cooper said Thursday’s town hall would feature a variety of experts from different organizations, and invited everyone to attend and ask questions.