Rep. Peter DeFazio is coming to the coast this week and he's expecting a lot of questions about health care reform.

Some of the Springfield Democrat's colleagues have faced rude receptions at similar events in the past week over the subject. The 12-term Congressman isn't concerned. He's held about 400 such events since his election to the House in 1987. And he's occasionally had to grapple with disruptive speakers.

"I generally ask people if they want this person to keep yelling," he said Monday. "Audiences usually tell them to sit down."

The Springfield Democrat is scheduled to hit Brookings, Gold Beach, Port Orford and North Bend on Thursday.

It's part of a four-day, 14-city tour of his district during Congress' August recess. He's planning to discuss the economy, transportation legislation - his forte - as well as other issues brought up by constituents. But his offices' phones and e-mail boxes have been inundated with queries about health care.

If disruptive speakers descend on North Bend Community Center on Thursday, they likely won't be representatives from local political groups.

Andy Jackson, chairman of the Coos County Republican Central Committee, said his group has no plans to send protesters to the meeting.

That's the same with Americans for Prosperity, said Monty Stewart, an assistant chairman in Reedsport. The national grassroots organization with state branches favors limited government and free markets. The Oregon group's top goal is reversing the state tax increases passed during the 2009 Legislative Session, but its members plan to show up for DeFazio's talk.

"We have concerns," he said. "But we are not planning to shout him down or anything. We just want to find out where he stands on this."

The Democratic Central Committee offered to help DeFazio and has publicized his arrival, said Molly Ford, the group's chairwoman.

"Other than that, we haven't made any other special efforts," she said.

DeFazio isn't on the committees crafting health care legislation in the House, but he's in a group with representatives from states with low Medicare reimbursement rates. Some doctors won't see Medicare patients because the reimbursement payments are so low. Representatives working on the legislation have told DeFazio the bill won't come out of committee without addressing that issue.

"We've been guaranteed that they will fix Medicare reimbursement rates so seniors will have better access to physicians," he said.

For his part, DeFazio wants to eliminate the anti-trust law exemption insurance companies enjoy and create a public insurance option. But, he insists, he's open to suggestions. He also wants to dispel the myths arising over health care reform. He plans to hand out material at the town hall meetings about the debate. There are three competing bills in the House, one in the Senate and plenty more ideas floating around Washington.

"Some people think this is already done but it's not," he said.

If something comes together, it will likely appear in final version around Christmas, he said. Several Congressmen, including DeFazio, have insisted the final bill must be posted online for at least two days before they'll vote on it. DeFazio said it was a mistake to vote on the federal stimulus bill so quickly without giving people a chance to read it, and he doesn't want a repeat of that with a health care bill.

It may be long, one of the proposals runs over 1,000 pages, but such issues can be complicated.

"It's my job to read them and understand them," he said. "I tell people what is likely to move forward and what's not. That's what people hired me to do."