City Lights:

The 18-year-old with the stubbly chin was talking about the expenses for his bipolar disorder. Every month, he said, he has to shell out $1,100 for medication to keep his mood swings in check. He’s on his father’s health insurance now, but he worries about how he’ll pay when he gets out of college.

Next to him was a woman whose sister had lost her job due to cancer, then had to plead with her friends to host fundraisers when her co-pay ran out. Another woman told about how her brother, a fellow cancer survivor, moved to Sweden to get health care when he couldn’t afford it at home.

As the 12 people shared their stories by the foot of the Huntington Beach Pier, they lit candles to be more visible at dusk; the sharp, cold wind blew some of the flames out repeatedly. Two of the demonstrators carried hand-drawn signs, while another taped a message to the back of her jacket reading, “It’s time — health care for all!”

This was the local Cost of Delay vigil put on Tuesday by MoveOn.org, the political nonprofit that organized more than 200 demonstrations across the country to muster support for a public health-care option. The head organizer called me the day before and invited me to cover the event.

She told me it wouldn’t be a massive demonstration, but I went anyway. After so many months of listening to partisan bickering about health care, I wanted to meet some of the people who actually deal with the world of co-pays, preexisting conditions and multiple surgeries.

I’m hardly on the front lines myself. I’ve had minimal need for treatment over the years, and I’ve never come close to bankruptcy due to a health condition. Likewise, I’m not a politician or an economist. The Senate will no doubt spend the next few weeks debating whether to have a government-run program, a private insurer or neither of the above.

Whatever the best solution is, I don’t know. But as I listened to the demonstrators, I wondered how many opponents of government “seizure” of health care would feel the same way if they were 55, uninsured and in dire need of treatment.

The government “seizes” education through public schools, yet most of our graduating seniors seem to come out well-adjusted. The government “seizes” public safety through police and fire departments, and I doubt many would argue that arrangement. When a burglar is crawling through your window, would you rather call the police or the vigilante who offers you the most competitive price?

I once interviewed a high school history teacher who explained that many people fear the word “socialism.” But America, he pointed out, already is a socialist country in part. The key words there are in part. We’ve gone for years with public options for transportation, education and other things, and somehow we’ve still fallen short of the ideals of Pol Pot.

“We’re willing to come out in this cold weather to get our point across,” one of the women told me Tuesday. Now that our representatives are listening, they can hash out the best solution to the problem. I just hope they find it before the next vigil, because it’s going to be a long winter ahead.

City Editor MICHAEL MILLER can be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at michael.miller@latimes.com .