Citizens gathered in Ramona Mainstage Saturday for a town hall meeting about the proposed national health care plan, Medicare and “common sense.” A couple of protestors gathered outside, holding signs in support of “helping insurance companies,” but proposed solutions to a medical debt quagmire were offered inside. 
   Ramona residents Dan and Susan Summers sponsored the first town hall event on Aug. 29. Saturday’s presentation was sponsored by Ramona TEA’d (Taxed Enough Already) Party. The owners of the Ramona Mainstage, Orrin and Cheryl Day, donated the use of the building for both venues.
   Whether addressing debt of a personal nature due to lack of insurance or of a national concern (the proposed public health care option), citizens nationwide are holding forums intended to bring public awareness to what the government is proposing, and to other options not yet being considered by the policymakers, said Summers.
   Jim Tapscott, chairman of Ramona TEA’d, declared, “Yes, we are ticked off! We are ‘TEA’d’ off, but what are we going to do about it? ... The government is out of control. We need to stand up and do something about it and be willing to take the heat, ‘cuz it’s gonna come.” 
   Attendees agreed on the need to hold politicians accountable and a cry for term limits peppered the afternoon meeting.  
   “We have to remind them, they work for us,” said Tapscott.
   Anesthesiologist Dr. Gary Gonsalves, co-founder of Stop Taxing Us, spoke first, discussing a Medicare system he said is broken and the impact insurance changes will have on Medicare services to seniors. A government-run public option is not the answer to the nation’s healthcare woes, said  Gonsalves, an expert in Medicare financing who said he is trying to educate the public in a search for health care reform that would be “better than what is being forced on the people by the current administration.”  (Gonsalves has been
   The need for health care reform is obvious, he said. Referring to the current Medicare system as an example, he said “we the people” will face an even greater problem if the government entrenches itself further into the space between doctor and patient.  “In order to save money, the government cut payments to the doctors and services to the very people who need it the most—the seniors.” 
   When Medicare began in the 1960s, it was estimated to cost about $14 billion by the ‘90s,  Gonsalves said, adding that the cost of the Medicare program by the ‘90s exceeded $100 million.  This gross misjudgment of costs is one indicator why a public option and further government involvement would be a mistake, said Gonsalves. “It is getting more difficult for seniors to get the care they need because doctors can’t afford to accept Medicare.”
   “There are better options that the government isn’t even looking at,” he continued. “People need to take charge of their own health.” 
   Citing a plan implemented by Safeway Corp., Gonsalves said, if the nation followed the example, “there would be enough money saved in a year to  take care of all the people we are talking about.” 
   Other suggested options included allowing insurance companies to compete across state lines, health care cooperatives, and tort reform to control “ambulance chasers,” and catastrophic policies to cover those who are healthy or would prefer a large/set deductible.
   “The time for party politics is over,” said Gonsalves. “Both sides have let us down.  It is time to vote for results.  Vote for people who make it happen and get rid of the party sides.”
   Jeff Wangsgaard took the stage next.  “I would like to talk to you today about one aspect of our Constitution that is so basic and fundamental that it is beautiful ... the 10th amendment ... the government has a limited role.  It is very specific.”
More information is at www.ramonatead.org.