Hundreds of people turned out last night for a town hall meeting on health care at McKinley High School, a sample of the frustration people across the nation have shown over President Obama's reform plans.

The meeting, hosted by Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou, who is running in the Republican primary for Congress in urban Honolulu's 1st Congressional District, was dominated by conservatives and other opponents who believe Obama is rushing reform through Congress. Djou called the meeting after the state's congressional delegation opted not to schedule town hall meetings on the issue during the August recess.

Noland Kaolowi, a government engineer who lives Downtown, attended with his 3-year-old son, Evan. He said he wished the president and Congress focused on providing health care for the uninsured without a complete overhaul of a health care system many are satisfied is working well.

"It's not health care reform. It's actually health care overhaul, because you have a bill that's over a thousand pages," Kaolowi said. "If the percentage of people who are satisfied with their health coverage is greater than the ones that we need to work with," he said of the uninsured, "why don't we just work on the ones who need it?"

Tito Montes, a military operations research contractor from 'Ewa Beach, told the audience the president's reform plan is based on assumptions about the number of uninsured that may not be accurate. He also said the reform plan, which includes a public option offered by the government, conflicts with the nation's free-market economic system.

"You have to assume that the free market capitalist system in America does not work," Montes said.

Rachel Orange, a progressive activist from Palolo Valley, was one of the few who spoke in favor of universal health care. "Where's the choice for the 45 million who do not have health insurance?" she asked. "Where is the choice for preventative care? They end up going to the emergency room, and we all pay for it."

Speakers invited by Djou were Linda Rasmussen, a doctor and advocate for medical-malpractice insurance reform; Pearl Hahn, a policy analyst at the conservative-to-libertarian Grassroot Institute, who opposes employer-mandated health insurance in favor of greater market competition; and Bruce Bottorff, the associate state director of the AARP, who backed Obama's reform goals.

Many in the audience directed their anger at Bottorff, booing and jeering when he spoke. When Bottorff described the argument that health care reform would lead to "socialized medicine" as a myth, he was showered with jeers and shouts of "Liar!"

The state's congressional delegation has sought an exemption in health care legislation for the state's Prepaid Health Care Act of 1974, which requires companies to provide health insurance to employees who work at least 20 hours a week. The state law has led Hawai'i to have among the highest rates of workers with health insurance in the nation, but some research also suggests companies have chosen to rely more on part-time workers.

Tomorrow, local Obama organizers plan to present the congressional delegation with declarations from people in the Islands who support the president's reform plans.

Former congressman Ed Case, who is running in the Democratic primary for Congress in the 1st District, said he would have held town hall meetings on health care if he were still in office. But he said the delegation has other ways to hear from constituents, and lawmakers have reported receiving telephone calls, letters and e-mail on the issue.

"I believe that people need to get up close and personal with their government, and vice versa. I think that's especially true in tough times when people want to communicate with their government and when government needs to listen," Case said.

Djou said his decision to call the town hall meeting was validated. "I think you saw from this evening that there is a lot of concern from Hawai'i residents, as well as the American public, about health care reform," he said. "I think it was important to offer a public forum to allow residents to voice their concerns."