Callers were critical of President Obama’s proposed health care reform plan in a telephone town hall Wednesday night, asking Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, how the government can afford to run the public option during a growing budget deficit.

“I’d really like to understand what are the key elements that are being proposed that are going to drive down costs,” caller Bart from Pleasanton said. “Tonight, you talked about things that are incongruous. On one hand you say, nothing’s going to change, in fact, things are going to improve from a Medicare standpoint. Yet costs are going to go down. I don’t see it equating…”

McNerney told Bart (the congressman’s office doesn’t ask for last names, spokeswoman Sarah Hersh said) that the proposed plan would focus heavily on prevention and early treatment. It would also ramp up information technology efforts so doctors have a better idea of a patient’s situation.

To another caller who asked about the cost, McNerney said the reform is pretty much already paid for with premium costs. He said no tax dollars would go into the plan, which would just cut out some inefficiencies with today’s health care. McNerney also said that the government has been negotiating with drug companies to lower costs.

“If we can keep people healthy, (we) prevent these early diseases from turning into bigger diseases and more expensive procedures than we wanted,” McNerney said.

Just like in the first telephone town hall earlier this month, there were questions about what the government-operated public option would do to Medicare and private health care providers.

McNerney, who said he would be in favor of representatives enrolling in the public option, reiterated that the public option would not take away private health care and not affect Medicare. It would act as a competitor on a level playing field, he said. He also stressed that this reform plan would not offer care for illegal immigrants and would not change abortion laws.

“We need to find a uniquely American solution which builds on our country’s competitive spirit,” McNerney said. “We are not going to create a brand new system from scratch. The proposal does not require anyone to change their current care or pick a new plan.”

The congressman also tried to parry a notion that, under the new plan, doctors would talk with older patients about ways to end their life, something Skip from Stockton called “assisted suicide.” Skip cited a certain part of the 1017-page report — page 425 — where he read about the end-of-life services.

“If the patient wants, then it allows the doctor to be paid for talking about issues such as living well, and so on,” McNerney said. “We’re not sure if that provision is going to be in the final passage of the bill or not, but certainly, it’s far from the things that you were suggesting are possible.”

This telephone town hall was the second this month for McNerney, who said he read H.R. 3200 “cover-to-cover.” After about 5,000 Congressional District 11 residents called during the last meeting, McNerney felt the need to hold another. On Wednesday, 17 callers out of more than 7,600 got through to the congressman in the hour-long timeslot compared to 12 last time.

Some district residents have been critical of McNerney’s decision not to hold an in-person town hall meeting, as many senators and representatives have done across the country.

Hersh said McNerney prefers telephone town halls to live discussions because it’s an easier way for residents of a large district to ask questions without having to potentially drive far away.

In addition to the call-in meetings, the congressman has also gone on district-wide “listening tours,” talking with doctors, patients and small business owners. He has stopped in Tracy twice.

Contact Tracy Press reporter Justin Lafferty at 830-4269 or jlafferty@tracypress.com.