You've got Medicare. Why not me?

I've been reading a lot about the congressional town hall meetings, where protesters rail about President Obama's health reform plan. News reports and video clips indicate that half or more of the protesters yelling about socialism and a government takeover are of Medicare age. I've been curious about their thinking.

Last Tuesday, I had my first close encounter with this mind-set. I was at my dentist's office, in the waiting room, reading Time Magazine's good cover story about Obama's efforts to pass health reform. Sitting across from me was an attractive white woman who appeared to be in her early 60s. She looked like one of those mature models in the ads for senior living centers or Viagra.

She smiled and asked me what I was reading, and I told her. Given that Yakima, Wash., where I live now, is a conservative town, I cautiously added a little editorial about how much I hoped Obama succeeded because for so many of us our health insurance coverage is precariously dependent on our jobs. She nodded in seeming sympathy.

But then she launched into an account of how her pregnant friend in Toronto, Canada, had a terrible time finding a doctor and had to come to the United States to get care.

While I found that difficult to believe, I didn't express my skepticism. Nor did I share my own tale about how hard it was to find a primary care doctor here in Yakima who would take new patients.

She then went on to say how awful she thought the proposed Obama reforms would be and how it would be just like Canada's dreadful system, with total government control.

I pointed out that the U.S. Medicare system is a government, single-payer insurance system like Canada's, and that most people on Medicare seem to like it. Then came the surprise. "Yes," she said, "we like it."

I hadn't pegged her as being old enough for Medicare. But, she added, the government system shouldn't be expanded beyond that.

That's when I started getting really getting teed off, though I hid it pretty well. "Well," I said, "you've got your good, secure health coverage, and that's what those of us under 65 want too. Is it fair that only people over 65 have that?"

She sidestepped by saying her husband had read all about this and explained to her how awful the proposed Obama reforms would be. Just at that point, when the discussion was about to get interesting, she was summoned into the dentist's chambers.

The same day, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) asked the hundreds of senior citizens at her town hall meeting, including many who were protesting against a "government takeover" of health care, whether they want to get rid of Medicare. No hands went up.

"So we have a whole bunch of folks here that have a government health-care program and they like it," she said over jeers. "The irony seems to be lost on people that some- times the very people who are saying, 'Make sure the government keeps its hands off my health care but by the way don't touch Medicare' -- that is ironic."

Beyond ironic, I'd say. Just plain selfish.

Harris Meyer is a free-lance journalist in Yakima, Wash.

Photo: Jae C. Hong, AP / Rick Meis, of Montanans for Single Payer, places a sign near Gallatin Field Airport in Belgrade, Mont., where President Obama was holding a town hall meeting Friday. ;