An overflow crowd filled not only the City Council Chambers in the Civic Plaza Thursday, but also the Community Room next door. Folks were even in the hallway. In all, more than 500 people showed up for Congressman Sam Farr’s town hall meeting on health care, and the majority seemed to favor change.

But few seemed very happy with the direction of the current health care bill being considered in Congress.

Jeffery Vance of Santa Cruz was the first citizen to speak. He explained how he broke his hand while in Sweden and paid just $18 for treatment, therapy and medication.

“I’m in favor of a single-payer system,” he said.

More than 500 people packed the Watsonville City Council Chambers Thursday night for a town hall meeting with Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel. (Photo by Tarmo Hannula)

But Farr said Congress is not considering a single-payer system that would operate like expanded Medicare. Instead, Congress would use private insurance companies as the basis for health care.

Linda Marin of Watsonville said she would also prefer a single-payer system and asked if there would be any help for undocumented aliens living here illegally.

“None at all,” Farr said. “They would still be going to our emergency rooms. Nothing in this bill helps them. We will have to address that.”

Some people did not believe that and expressed outrage that the bill would help illegal aliens. Watsonville resident Bruce Shaw was not one of them.

“I’ve been in ag for about 50 years and I’ve got a question about farmworkers. The people that come here to go to work from Mexico are made into criminals under the present system we have,” he said. “This has got to change. This is ridiculous. These people need to be treated like human beings and we need medical insurance for them.”

Bob Henry, a veteran of World War II, said he was fairly neutral on the issue, but after talking to his doctor, was concerned about access. With not enough primary care physicians for the current system, wouldn’t this overburden it?

“How can the system take this load on and who is going to pay for all this?” he asked.

Steve Nelson of Watsonville had similar concerns.

“I think we are leveraging the future of our kids. If we don’t get a handle on our federal deficit, all this is for naught,” he said.

But Farr replied that the program’s expense had been determined and the money had been found to pay for it.

“It’s not to be a welfare project as some people think. It has to stand on its own feet financially,” Farr said. “The difference is, it doesn’t have to pay stockholders and it doesn’t have to advertise.”

Farr’s answers were generally long at the start and grew shorter as the night progressed. The event was scheduled to last from 6 to 8 p.m., but it was 8:50 p.m. by the time the congressman had finished answering questions. About half the audience had left midway through the discussion. Among the things they learned were that, according to Farr, everyone would be required to purchase medical insurance under the reform. Also, Medicare is not in danger of being cut to pay for the reforms.

“And no longer will (insurance companies) be able to drop a person because they’ve exceeded their limit,” he said. “Mental health will be on parity with all other health issues. … Treatment for addiction to alcohol or drugs will be a compensated medical care.”

Farr said he is concerned the public option might be left out of the legislation and vowed not to vote for it if was not in, but also said the public option, as currently planned, would only be for people who cannot afford insurance and would not be available as an option for people who were insured.

“We don’t want to upset the ship. We cannot afford to be the private insurer of everybody,” he said.

Overall, the meeting was extremely tame compared to the raucous rants seen on national newscasts. Messages were constantly projected onto a big screen, encouraging civility.

“Thank you for participating in our country’s proud tradition of civil dialog. Thank you also for respecting your neighbors’ ability to listen and ask questions,” one message read.

Farr has held town hall meetings on health care in Monterey, Salinas, King City and Santa Cruz. The final town hall meeting is scheduled for this morning at the Steinbeck Center in Salinas.

“Thank you. It’s been a long night. It’s been a long week,” Farr said.