"We're protesting against a government takeover of the health care system," said Bob Meyer of Riverhead, chairman of the Suffolk County 9-12 Project, a nationwide movement founded by conservative Fox News commentator Glenn Beck.
The demonstration, one of two the group held on Long Island Saturday, targeted proposed health care reform bills put forth by President Barack Obama and currently pending in Congress.
"We definitely want less government involvement," Mr. Meyer said. "A lot of the problems we have now are things the government created. We need more of a free market."
He said countries like Canada and England, which have national health care, also have much worse coverage.
"This health care plan will bust the country," said Joe Vollo of Aquebogue, one of the demonstrators. "It will slow down the recovery that we're currently experiencing due to the free market system."
He said they weren't really protesting, however.
"We're gathering to inform the people of what's really going on and the actual impacts these proposals will have, and to slow things down," Mr. Vollo said. "This fast-tracking is out of control, and the reason for that is so no one has a chance to really pay attention to what's in these bills. And then once it's passed, it's too late."
"This health care reform is going to actually take away more choices from people, and might drive the regular insurance companies out of business," said Estelle Edwards of Riverhead, chair of the Suffolk County Libertarian Party.
"And this 'end of life counseling' -- that smacks of state-mandated euthanasia," she said. "It reminds me of those sci-fi classics like 'Logan's Run' or 'Soylent Green,' where no one is allowed to live past the age of 30."
End-of-life counseling is one of the more controversial parts of the pending bill.
"It says that if you're over 65, you have to have mandatory end-of-life counseling every five years, where they establish a board that determines your quality of life index and how many quality years you have left," said Rich Burns of Riverhead, one of the demonstrators. "You may be able to live 15 years after a certain treatment, but if they say only three of those years are quality years, they are going to say, 'Why are we going to spend $80,000 on an open heart surgery for you?'รขâ"
Not so, according to Congressman Tim Bishop (D-Southampton), who supports reform of the health care system.
"This is either the most misunderstood portion of the bill or it is being purposely mischaracterized by people who are trying to kill the bill," he said in an interview Monday.
The bill says an "end-of-life consultation" would be an allowable Medicare expense if the client wishes to have one, but there is no requirement for one, Mr. Bishop said. Currently, such consultations -- which he said could be held to discuss a health care proxy or a living will, for instance -- are not covered by Medicare.
Mr. Bishop said there is now one version of the bill in the House of Representatives and two versions in the Senate. And nothing will be approved until at least the third week of September and probably later, he said.
"Nobody is proposing a government takeover of health care," Mr. Bishop said Monday. "No one is proposing a Canada-style system or an English system."
He said the proposal would create a government-run health care company that people would have the option to use, just as they have the option to use private providers.
Mr. Bishop said there are parts in the bill that he likes and parts he doesn't like, but that, overall, health care reform is needed.
"The current system is broken," he said. "It is inordinately expensive. We spend about double the median for industrialized nations for health care and we don't have the results that say it's worth it."
Mr. Bishop also said that between Medicare, Medicaid and the Veterans Administration, about one-third of Americans, or 100 million people, already uses some form of government-administered health care. Estimates are that about 11 million more would use the proposed system.
"I wouldn't call that a government takeover of health care," he said.
Mr. Bishop said the issue "has become very politicized," with virtually no Republican support for the proposed reforms in Congress.
While a number of candidates in Riverhead's upcoming municipal election attended Saturday's demonstration, Mr. Meyer said his group is nonpartisan.
tgannon@timesreview.com