Outside Reno City Hall on Thursday, two opposing groups of protestors stood on either side of East First Street. They were united by their concerns over health care.

The ruckus outside was in response to a storm brewing inside, where Nevada Congressman Dean Heller addressed a full room of private insurers and health care professionals.

The Reno-Sparks Chamber of Commerce hosted the speech just days after Heller addressed more than 100 people at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa Wednesday.

“Where do I fit into this plan?” asked one person in attendance, as she pondered the plan’s organizational flow chart Heller handed out with his presentation.

Heller’s response encouraged her to call his office and have a staffer walk her through the plan’s intricacies.

Other health care business people in attendance shouted in response to the woman, “You are not in this plan,” spurring fears that some private insurers may lose their jobs if the plan is approved.

“This is a roadmap for disaster,” said crowd member and Charter financial consultant Steve Peeck. “It is socialism. This does not make sense.”

Outside, Bob Fulkerson was fighting for proposed health care overhauls and protesting against Heller.

“We want to see health care affordable and available for everyone who lives here,” Fulkerson said as he waved his sign at passing cars. “I am in favor of (President Barack) Obama’s plan. Heller is keeping their (private health care insurance executives) profits ahead of his constituents.”

Fulkerson, the executive director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, and about a dozen people who joined him were protesting Heller’s critical approach to health care reform.

“The purpose is not to take care of the uninsured,” Heller said of Obama’s plan. “It is to get everyone on a plan. I believe everyone should have access to health care … there should be affordable health care, but the question is how do you get there?”

Three health care overhaul bills, two in the Senate and one in the House of Representatives, are waiting for final approvals. Obama has said he is hoping for a bill to show up on his desk for a final signature by the end of the year.

One of Heller’s failed amendments to the plan included making both Congress and the president use the public health care option. It was defeated on July 16 by a 21-18 vote.

“Why would I want to be on a plan that is not OK for Congress and the president?” Sparks resident Charlene Bybee asked as she participated in a counter protest across the East First Street dividing line. “Heller is one of the few people who is listening to us. I am frightened for our future. I don’t believe I would be able to keep my private insurance.”

Bybee grapples with health care issues in the form of cancer. She has been in remission for four years.

“You don’t know if you will go in one day and have cancer,” Bybee said. “This issue goes right to everyone. Everyone can get emotional about it.”

Emotions and concerns will be voiced to Sen. Harry Reid today in a telephone town hall scheduled for 2:30 p.m. In a written release, Reid’s office said about 50,000 Nevadans are invited to participate.

Registration for the telephone town hall closed at noon Thursday.

Reid’s office says the tele-town hall format will allow discussion of the issue and discourage outbursts that have disrupted other forums around the country.

For more information on proposed health care reform, visit the government’s official information Web site for Nevada at www.healthreform.gov/reports/statehealthreform/nevada.html.