NORTH BEND - Rep. Peter DeFazio didn’t have to fight with hecklers or shout down demonstrators at his last town hall meeting Thursday. The noise he had to contend with most was applause.

The more than 1,200 people who crammed into the North Bend Community Center clapped when the Springfield Democrat arrived, punctually at 5:15. Some cheered when he said he had read the health care bill, and they kept at it when he talked about pushing to increase Medicare reimbursements for Oregonians and to prevent patients from losing health care because of pre-existing conditions.

Others roared louder when a woman dressed in hospital greens told DeFazio not to give health care to people who don’t work. There also was a lot of applause when a different woman demanded malpractice tort reform and a man said health care reform would create a bigger bureaucracy.

DeFazio defended his own positions nimbly, returning repeatedly to several key themes. On tort reform, he endorsed a $500,000 cap unless a patient can prove doctor negligence.

He said business owners have told him they can’t keep up with the rising cost of health insurance. He’s also heard from patients who can’t get health coverage or who lost it because of technicalities. One patient was denied coverage for leukemia even though she had paid her premiums, because she didn’t report going to see her dermatologist. That’s one of his concerns with the existing system, DeFazio said.

“There are some big holes and problems with the system that need to be fixed,” he said.

His priority is to level Medicare reimbursement rates from state to state. He noted that if Medicare patients in Miami and North Bend undergo the same procedure, the Miami doctor could be paid twice as much because of rates established 40 years ago.

“We have to fix Medicare reimbursement rates before we give people a public option,” he said. A public option would be a government-run insurance plan, working alongside private insurance companies.

When some audience members suggested such a program could bankrupt private insurance companies, DeFazio fired back that at least one insurance executive makes $2 million a week.

“I think they can afford to cut back,” he said.

DeFazio said he opposed taxing private insurance benefits in order to cover the uninsured.

Several times during the evening, arguments broke out between audience members with divergent views. DeFazio used humor to cool tempers. When a woman accused Congress of trying to rush legislation before its August vacation, he replied: “This is a vacation? I’ve had better ones than this.”

He urged speakers to avoid the kind of behavior familiar to viewers of national cable news networks. “We’re Oregonians,” he said.

DeFazio also grappled with rumors suggesting the bill would give health care to illegal immigrants, would fund abortion and would create “death panels” that would cut off care for terminal or elderly patients. All untrue, he said. On the “death panel” issue, the congressman said the bill simply allows reimbursement to physicians for counseling patients about living wills, do-not-resuscitate orders and other end-of-life choices.

The issue resonated with Anne Morgan, a nurse practitioner who works in Bay Area Hospital’s palliative care program. She said she helps patients decide between enduring sometimes-arduous treatments and entering hospice care. There’s nothing about assisted suicide in those discussions, and reimbursing health care providers for providing that service makes sense, she said.

“I like the idea we can talk about it,” she said.

Several North Bend police officers were stationed in the audience, including Chief Steve Scibelli. They were ready to take on troublemakers, but none surfaced.

“I was extremely proud of the citizens of the Bay Area who were so civil to each other,” said Scibelli.

DeFazio was able to respond to about 25 people, though others were left with their hands raised when the meeting ended. At least one man didn’t mind going unheard. He wore tape over his mouth and carried a sign that read:

“The weakest argument usually shouts loudest!!!”

DeFazio spent the day touring the coast, speaking earlier at town halls in Brookings, Gold Beach and Port Orford. He resumes his 14-city tour Tuesday with a town hall in Junction City.