SALISBURY, Md.- With a group of protesters holding up signs outside, U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin met with more than 100 senior citizens at Salisbury University on Thursday to discuss the need for health care reform.

The Democratic senator from Maryland spoke to the members of GrayShore, an organization representing Eastern Shore seniors ages 50 and above.

Unlike events earlier in the week on the other side of the state, the invitation-only event at SU was more tame. The questions were polite, but pointed.

"When you say all the bills will reduce costs, I think you are not informed. Your own Congressional Budget Office has said this bill will dramatically increase costs," said Dennis Stolte, from Trappe, Md.

In response to Stolte's statement, Cardin replied, "The difficulty that you and I are having on this question is you are referring to a bill that was coming out of one of the four [Congressional]committees. What I've said is when we get a bill out on the floor of the United States Senate and we vote on a bill on the floor of the Senate, whether its coming out of committee or a conference commitee, it's going to bring down the cvost of health care and it's going to be paid for or I'm not going to support it."

Based on the questions asked at the meeting, there is clearly still much concern and confusion about the legislation under consideration.

Kay Gibson of Salisbury said to the senator, "Why on earth are you introducing a health care bill that has so many pages in it and such complex wording that we don't even understand it? And quite frankly we don't trust you all to be honest with us."

Cardin responded to Gibson by saying, "I think we have a responsibility to answer as many of the specific questions out there as possible. That  requires us to be more specific in the legislation that we will be considering."

Cardin said he believes Congress has a responsibility to make sure Americans have access to "affordable, quality health care."

"I think we need to improve our health care system, to bring down the cost, to keep quality high and make sure everybody has access to affordable quality care, and I believe that power vests in the Congress of the United States."

Cardin said he would like to see health care reform legislation take final form so Congress can vote on it.  

While Cardin was speaking at SU, dozens of people who never got a chance to see the senator, held up protest signs outside the university. Some of the signs read, "Hands Off My Health Care" and "Reform Not Take Over." The protesters, some of whom waved flags, lined Dogwood Drive in front of SU.

One of the protesters, Dennis Evans of Berlin, said he is worried how a government health care reform plan will affect people's lives.

"If the government gets involved with controlling health care, they're going to get involved with every aspect of our lives: what we eat, do we own a gun, can we smoke, are we abusing ourselves in any way," Evans said. "They tell us if we do these things we're not going to qualify for care in later years."

The protestors said they hoped their presence would make Cardin think twice before supporting the plan.

Inside the unversity, as the event wrapped up, Cardin acknowledged this is democracy in action.

"I really do believe this is part of the political process," he said. "I think the best way we're going to get results in Washington is to hear your views. I learn from these exchanges. I get information that's helpful to me."