Peppered with questions about the three bills now before the House of Representatives and two before the Senate, he repeatedly said that whenever the government gets involved, there are going to be problems.

“I’ve learned there’s a huge gap between theory and reality,” Bilbray said in reference to the promises of health care reform and what ultimately may be delivered.

He said nothing to dispel one woman’s mistaken belief that she would be forced to take part in an “end of life” discussion with a bureaucrat who also would decide what prescription medicines she could and could not have.

Bilbray later agreed there was a lot of misinformation being bandied about, but said there are legitimate concerns that a solely government-run system, the so-called single-payer option, could lead to Draconian requirements.

“There’s a big difference between doing something because it’s the right thing to do and Washington requiring it,” he said.

He cited the Endangered Species Act, saying that regulatory agencies promulgated far more restrictive regulations than Congress envisioned when it passed that legislation.

“It’s a kind of mission creep,” he said. “That fear is real.”

Universal health care proponents say providing some form of coverage for all is overdue. Roughly 20 percent of Californians are without any health insurance at some point of every year, according to the UCLA Center for Health Policy. Health groups say about 45 million Americans, including an estimated 15 million illegal immigrants, have no health insurance.

At one point during his “community coffee,” Bilbray compared government health care with public housing.

“If you ask the American people if they want a free house, the answer is ‘yes,’” he said. “But if you ask them if they want to live in public housing, the answer is ‘no.’ There’s a huge difference between promising and delivering.”

Sustained cheers and clapping came when one speaker said Americans have to fight “to keep government from controlling every aspect of our lives.”

After the 60-minute meeting, Carlsbad’s Steve Helmbold said he heard “a lot of talk without any real answers.”

Hank Foley, a former health care administrator from Rancho Bernardo, said he was hoping for a lot more facts than the session seemed to generate.

“There weren’t good-enough answers to what the alternative to reform is,” Foley said.

Escondido resident Jenifer Leinedecker said she was frustrated by much of what she heard from the audience —- and from Bilbray.

“I’m amazed at what went on in there,” said Leinedecker, who has an Obama sticker on her car. “There was so much disinformation, and Congressman Bilbray didn’t dispel any of the myths.”

Lawmakers’ focus on health care during their annual August recess does have one major benefit, she said.

“At least the debate is getting people to study what their current health plans really offer,” Leinedecker.

What Congress ultimately may pass this year depends on the funding mechanism, Bilbray later said.

Pastors weigh in

Ninety minutes after the town hall meeting, a group of pastors and priests aligned under a group called Faith Works, representing 11 congregations and 21,000 families, called for toning down the rhetoric and working for passage of meaningful reform that assures affordable coverage for all.

“Our families are suffering from a lack of affordable health care,” said Monsignor Lawrence Purcell of the Church of the Nativity in Rancho Santa Fe. “It’s time to address and reform health care.”

The Rev. Michael Henderson from Oceanside’s Shiloh Church of God in Christ said health care reform is a moral issue.

“We are here to remind our elected officials that this is not about politics,” he said during the presentation at Vista’s Church of St. Thomas More.

Henderson said he and his wife are now paying $700 a month for health care as a result of her employer reducing her work schedule from full-time to part-time status, resulting in a higher cost to cover their family.

“We feel we are being robbed and raped,” he said.

The Rev. Beth Johnson of Vista’s Palomar Unitarian Universalist Fellowship said failure to pass reform this year could derail the issue for years, resulting in continually rising costs.

“The American people want affordable health care for all families and they want it now,” she said. “We will not wait any longer.”

While the momentum for reform is palpable, the Rev. Michael Ratajczak of The Church of St. Thomas More said it’s clear that sectors of the health care industry are doing all they can to prevent it.

“Congress needs our help in spreading the truth,” he said.

Call staff writer Mark Walker at 760-740-3529.