During a recent town hall in Massachusetts, an angry attendee asked Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-MA) why she and other Members of Congress won’t enroll in a public plan. Tsongas responded, “People often say why don’t the American people have what those of us in Congress have.” As she tried to explain the substance of the health care reform bill, the town hall participants began screaming, refusing to allow her to speak.

As a member of Congress, Tsongas said she has a “tremendous array of choice” in health care options available to her. The audience yelled, “We want choice! We want choice!” To those who were willing to listen, Tsongas explained, “That is essentially what we are creating for the American people – we are creating greater choice.” Watch it:

As is often the case with these angry town hall participants, their fervent complaints are grounded in a shallow understanding of the facts. The truth is, Obama’s health care plan delivers for those who want more choice, like members of Congress have. The public option would insert public/private competition in a “market” that is currently dominated by a monopoly of health insurers who dictate the terms. As Republican congressman Tim Murphy (R-PA) said:

One of our big frustrations with insurance companies is they control the marketplace, they control what’s done, a lot of times doctors not making the decisions here.

Obama is pushing to establish more health care choices for the consumer by creating a national health insurance exchange “where Americans can one-stop shop for a health care plan, compare benefits and prices, and choose the plan that’s best for them, in the same way that Members of Congress and their families can” in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. “One of these options,” Obama said, “needs to be a public option that will give people a broader range of choices and inject competition into the health care market so that force waste out of the system and keep the insurance companies honest.”

Last week, Sarah Palin made the audacious claim that President Obama plans to institute a system of “death panels” where “bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of [people's] ‘level of productivity in society,’ whether they are worthy of health care.” Even some conservatives rejected Palin’s claim as “crazy.” Today on his radio show, however, Glenn Beck said that he thinks she has a point. ” I believe it to be true, but that’s quite a statement,” said Beck, adding, “I believe she at least should be listened to and you should question, ‘Is it evil?’” Listen here:

On Sunday, former House speaker Newt Gingrich also agreed with Palin.

Last week, during a scuffle between health care town hall protesters and SEIU members at a town hall hosted by Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-MO), anti-health care reform protester Kenneth Gladney was injured and required hospitalization:

Among the injured was Kenneth Gladney, 38, of St. Louis. He said he was with the Tea Party, handing out yellow flags with “Don’t tread on me” printed on them, when he was assaulted. He said he sought hospital treatment for injuries to his knee, back, elbow, shoulder and face.

“I was attacked for something I believe in,” he said.

Since then, conservatives have been using Gladney’s case as a cause célèbre to claim that “union thugs” are being used to silence dissent at health care town halls and have turned him into a hero of their movement.

The irony is that Gladney’s situation underscores the vital need for health care reform. He was recently laid off and lost his insurance (14,000 Americans suffer a similar fate each day). Because he has no affordable health care option available, Gladney is now soliciting donations to pay his medical expenses:

Less than 48 hours later, protesters gathered Saturday in front of the union’s offices, many of them holding signs with a slightly different version of the message: “Don’t Tread on Kenny.” [...]

Gladney did not address Saturday’s crowd of about 200 people. His attorney, David Brown, however, read a prepared statement Gladney wrote. “A few nights ago there was an assault on my liberty, and on yours, too.” Brown read. “This should never happen in this country.”

Supporters cheered. Brown finished by telling the crowd that Gladney is accepting donations toward his medical expenses. Gladney told reporters he was recently laid off and has no health insurance.

Commenting on the Gladney incident, The Moderate Voice writes, “Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up. If anything was more calculated to make the Right look foolish than this St. Louis incident then I’d love to see it.”

Under the House’s health care proposal, Gladney would be guaranteed a coverage option and would likely receive a subsidy to purchase affordable health care.