FAIRMONT - Let's keep to the facts, even if it is counterintuitive.

That was a message Congressman Tim Walz, D-Minn., repeated through alternating boos and cheers at Thursday's town hall meeting on health care reform in Mankato.

Participants were met at the door by protests from individuals and the local Teamsters union, as well as by people handing out fliers advertising health care.

The packed auditorium yielded questions ranging from the legality of health care reform, to personal stories reflecting health care problems, to general concern about government oversight.

Former Republican Sen. Dave Durenburger moderated the activity, with an expert panel including Dr. Doug Wood, president of Immanuel St Joseph hospital/clinic in Mankato; Phil Stalboerger, vice president of Blue Cross Blue Shield; and Brad Meier, president of the Owatonna Chamber of Commerce. Even with an expert from the health care industry, an insurance giant and a large employer, questions largely were directed to Walz.

The congressman asked audience members to focus on two main questions: What do you want to do about (health care reform)? and what should reform look like?

Hundreds of people stood in line behind microphones waiting for a chance to talk. Walz extended the two-hour session to accommodate the large crowd, which included supporters and opponents of the Obama administration's health care reform plan.

Walz likened the plan to veterans benefits rather than Medicare, the government-provided health insurance plan for senior citizens.

Wood said the Veterans Administration, like the Mayo Clinic, focuses its care on value, not volume. But this efficiency limits Medicare reimbursements.

"The VA (is) not driven by how many things (they) get done in a day," he said. "They are focused on what you do to help the patient."

Walz cautioned that the VA system is not perfect, and the health care reform bill is not entirely worked out.

Since 2001, health insurance premiums have risen 74 percent while average income has risen 17 percent, Walz said. He said the current system is unsustainable, and will collapse the economy if it is not reformed.

Several people voiced concern over commonly held assumptions about the costs of the public option in the health care plan, and deregulating private insurance companies across state lines.

Walz directed audience members to several studies indicating the public option would increase private insurance participation, and allowing insurance to be deregulated by states will drive up costs.

"We have to look into the data on this," he said. "Let's keep to the facts, even if it is counterintuitive."

The forum was stopped at several points to restore decorum, although the jeering was easily quieted.

"The passions that people are bringing to this are absolutely where it should be," Walz said.