PROVO — Some Utah County residents rallied Wednesday to tell Congress to keep its hands off their health care.

The group of almost 50 who gathered at Provo's Kiwanis Park heard rallying speeches and signed a petition with the phrase "Hands off my health care," urging Congress to oppose any legislation that involves government more in health care.

Nonprofit group Americans For Prosperity organized the rally, a project the group calls "Patients First." A grass-roots initiative, Patients First is aimed at getting Americans to voice their concerns about President Barack Obama's government-run health-care plan. The group worries the president's plan will lead to patients losing control over their health care.

After hearing a recorded phone call about the rally, Verdie Taggart, 75, of Provo had to attend. Lately she's been calling friends and neighbors encouraging them to contact Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, about the legislation. Matheson is among a group of "Blue Dog" House democrats who have created a significant roadblock to the health-care reform bill in the House,

"I know that he's one of the Democrats that (is) against it," she said. "I know there's going to be a lot of pressure on him to change his vote."

While speaking at the rally, Utah state Rep. Bradley Daw, R-Orem, called the president's health-care plan "massive" and "a bad law." He said Congress should take its time and give Americans an opportunity to look over and digest the substance of the legislation before making any decisions.

"Why the rush?" he said. "If this were a reasonable proposal, there would be no rush."

Instead of health-care reform on a national level, Daw said, America needs to deal with the issue state by state. He said Utah legislators are designing Utah's own reform that gets to the heart of the problem and puts patients first.

A Republican Party precinct chair from Provo, Daniel Broadbent, 50, doesn't see himself as an activist. But he said he came to the rally concerned about the current political environment and its direction toward socialism. He said socialization of health care will lower the quality of care and diminish much of the current research that's taking place.

"I don't do a lot of activism stuff," he said. "But if things go too much further in direction of socialism, I might have to a get a little more activist."

e-mail: jdavis@desnews.com