CRANBERRY TWP — About 25 people protested Thursday afternoon at the township municipal center about government interference in health care.

The protest was one in a series of TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Parties across the country to protest the loss of freedoms and rights under the Democratic administration. The protest was at the municipal center because it has a satellite office of Congressman Jason Altmire, D-4th.

Three-year cancer survivor LeeAnn Sheehy and her 12-year-old twins were at the TEA Party.

Sheehy credits her battle over leukemia to the drug Gleevec, which she fears she might not have received under a government-controlled health care system.

"The current health care system, the research being conducted and the access to the drug saved my life," Sheehy said. "My concern with government care is there will be limits on what medicines are available to people."

She said the loss of a free enterprise health care system would hurt her small health care business.

"I don't need more bureaucrats telling me what I need to do with patients," she said.

Twins Tyler and Taylor Sheehy also worry about government health care.

"I'd rather have my doctor make decisions for me than someone who really doesn't know about drugs and medicine," said Tyler Sheehy, whose sign read "Wake up America, be aware of socialism."

His sister said elected officials should recognize the attendance of young people at such protests.

"If kids know the problems with government health care, then (officials) definitely should," Taylor Sheehy said.

Bob Warner of Beaver County, who served in the Army during the Korean War, said he worries about increasing government interference in American life.

"Guys my age fought for our freedom years ago, and now the government is taking it all away," Warner said.

He said the idealistic scenarios politicians are touting will not match conditions if government is allowed to interfere with free enterprise.

"They are talking utopian, and there are enough idiots in the country to believe them," Warner said.

Margie and Larry Kladny of Butler, who attended a TEA Party in Pittsburgh on April 15 in the pouring rain to protest over taxation, are worried about losing the freedoms the Constitution is based on.

"Pretty soon we won't have our guns or freedom of speech," said Margie Kladny, who added insurance companies would be pushed out of business by the government in a state-run health care system.

Larry Kladny said his travels to England and Canada during his years in the service convinced him socialized medicine is bad.

Kladny said people in those countries told him there are long waiting periods to see a doctor, treatment is delayed, patients who cannot afford treatment often go untreated and patients are sometimes refused treatment based on their age.

Many who attended the protest are worried about a proposal of Democrat health care legislation they say would force employers to change their health care provider into the government plan.

Cindy Frey, who organized the protest, was pleased with the turnout. She said the protest's goals were to:

n Educate voters about government health care.

n Oppose President Obama's health care reform, which would make health care the responsibility and right of every individual American, not the responsibility of employers.

n Slow down the process of changing the country's health care system.

Frey said health care is not a right, but a responsibility for each family.

"How is it my responsibility to pay for someone else's health care?" Frey asked.

Altmire, through a statement released from his Washington, D.C., office, said he agrees with the protesters.

"I absolutely do not support a government takeover of our nation's health care system," according to his statement. "I am focused on finding ways to cut wasteful spending in our current system so we can lower health care costs for families and small businesses."