Biggert, Kirk Tackle Health Care Reform

It was a capacity crowd but without the drama and political theater that has put forums like this in the spotlight.

That was not lost on Congresswoman Judy Biggert who said: "What bothers me the most about this is we do have some people out there that want to make political games out of this, or destroy some of these meetings, I think this was quite a civil discourse that we had today

. Biggert and fellow Republican Representative Mark Kirk, who has announced he is running for U-S Senate, spoke at a meeting closed to cameras.

It was a decision made by the event's sponsor, the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce, which left reporters and others frustrated.

Kathleen Strand, a Democratic Senate committee spokesperson said: "The closed door nature of this hurts what is at the heart of the process."

To counter President Obama's trillion dollar plan, Biggert and Kirk presented what they called their "centrist" alternative. How much would that plan cost?

Kirk said: "It would be far less than a trillion dollars, because we emphasize reforms more than a big government program." The crowd was mostly friendly, but there were detractors and others with concerns about the various plans to reform the nation's health care system.

Richard Godwin describes himself as an entrepreneur, saying: " I believe the American Dream, which I'm living. I'm an immigrant living the American Dream. We are being compromised by the lack of proper health care in this country."

Neurologist Dr. Allan Burke said: "I disagree about the statement about the government coming between me and my patients, when private insurance companies do it routinely and exponentially more."