Anger and hostility caught up with U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter yesterday at health care forums in Manchester and Portsmouth.

Two dozen protesters picketed at the Norris Cotton Federal Building in downtown Manchester carrying signs telling Congress to stop scaring people and to leave health care alone.

In Portsmouth, officers from the Portsmouth police department and federal agencies flanked the room and entrance to the Thomas J. McIntyre Federal Building. One officer issued a stern warning to the audience of 150 before Shea-Porter spoke: "act crazy" and you'll "go outside."

Carl Tomanelli of Londonderry, left, argues during a Carol Shea-Porter forum in Manchester on health care reform. He was eventually escorted from the room by police. (THOMAS ROY)

In Manchester, security pulled a Londonderry man out of the forum for continually interrupting Shea-Porter and others.

Participants at times shouted over one another and at Shea-Porter, who pleaded for civility while saying reform is inevitable. "We can't continue on this path. If we do nothing right now, costs will continue to skyrocket," she said.

Shea-Porter later said the forums were held in federal buildings because several constituents saw what went on around the country and asked if they would be safe. "That was enough for us to say, 'This is a good idea,' everyone can feel safe and secure," she said.

In Manchester, several attendees questioned why it was limited to an hour and why more people were not allowed inside. The standing room only crowd was limited to 90 people who had to go through metal detectors to get to the third floor conference room.

Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta, a Republican who plans to challenge Democrat Shea-Porter for her seat, was among those outside the building. He was later offered a seat inside, but refused to "cut the line."

Shea-Porter was challenged on tort reform, campaign fund-raising, Medicare, and whether the forum was a political event.

Other participants were concerned about the cost of their health care, the cost to state governments, if the public health care option would be different from Massachusetts's universal coverage and if the Medicare program would be changed.

Questioned if she supported a single-payer system, Shea-Porter said she would like to see Medicare cover everyone, which would continue to allow people to choose their own doctors and providers.

She tried to assuage fears of a government takeover of health care by repeatedly saying there would be no mandate to switch insurers.

►Pictures and audio by Tom Roy from the Shea-Porter town meeting in Manchester

A public run insurance program would have lower overhead and a greater ability to negotiate prices with prescription drugs companies, she said. Under the current proposal, patients could not be dropped because of pre-existing conditions or once they met a set limit on coverage, she added.

Removed from the forum because he continually interrupted Shea-Porter and others in Manchester was Carl Tomanelli of Londonderry, who objected when her staff passed out health care stickers before the event began.

He claimed the stickers would be used to alert Shea-Porter to supporters. Later he told the New Hampshire Sunday News: "I'm not in favor of any health care reform Carol Shea-Porter is not a part of. If they want me to support it, I have to have the same health care as (U.S. Sen.) Orrin Hatch, or Ted Kennedy or (Christopher) Dodd."

He also objected that people outside Shea-Porter's Congressional district were in the room, including a young man who could not vote. He noted there were out-of-state license plates around the building. "It's a joke," Tomanelli said.

The tone of the forum was set early when audience members began shouting over 84-year-old Germaine Duval of Manchester, who told of having a stroke while she was driving near Livingston Park.

A hospital stay left her with thousands of dollars in bills, although she has Medicare, she said. "You have to do something about the gap (in Medicare coverage)," she said, but several people began shouting she had gone over the two-minute limit set for speaking.

Ann Marie Banfield of Bedford took exception to Shea-Porter's statement tort reform would not lower insurance premiums. Banfield cited an opinion piece in the San Francisco Examiner indicating Texas tort reform had significantly reduced insurance premiums and improved the quality of health care in that state.

"That completely contradicts what you said," Banfield said. "We don't want to hear political jargon, you're not telling us the truth." Shea-Porter noted health care premiums have not dropped, but added she didn't say tort reform wasn't needed, just that it should be done separately from health care reform.

In Portsmouth, Shea-Porter faced questions about how the health care system would handle an influx of uninsured patients and whether that would mean rationing.

One man called on her to give Americans 60 days to read any final proposal before lodging a vote. Another wondered how small business owners would be affected.

Audience members heatedly questioned the constitutionally of a public option and whether Nazi principles of eugenics are behind the current push for health care reform.

"This isn't about providing health care, it's an economic policy," said Alan Demers, 23, of Quincy, Mass. "It's about cutting costs. It's about killing human beings."

Demers, a supporter of once-jailed presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche, said Obama's plan for a public option is "inexplicably Nazi."

"I am offended by what you said about the President," Shea-Porter shot back in a terse response. "I'm sorry, you must read the bill -- it says nothing at all about death panels."

Others applauded Shea-Porter's work in Congress. Throughout the hour-long session, chants of "Don't ram it through" and "Try the Constitution, lady" were greeted loudly by supporters of the plan, who shouted back: "Shut up."

After the two forums, Shea-Porter said they allowed her to reach out to as many people as possible. Everyone had the same opportunity to get in, ask questions and be heard, she said.