Mirroring the nation, Scotland County residents had mixed reactions to the passage of the healthcare reform bill which passed the House on a 219-212 vote.

The bill is expected to provide some 32 million Americans health insurance coverage with millions more protected from losing theirs. The legislation will also raise taxes while reducing Medicare spending by approximately $500 billion.

Some 34 moderate and conservative Democrats joined House Republicans in opposing the healthcare reform bill. One of them was Larry Kissell, Scotland County's representative in Congress.

"I promised to protect Medicare," Kissell said in a statement. "While I believe we need health care reform and was proud to be an original co-sponsor of the bill to end the anti-trust exemption for insurance companies, I gave my word to the citizens of the 8th District that I would protect Medicare."

Kissell said the Senate Health Care Bill cuts Medicare by nearly half a trillion dollars over the next 10 years and those cuts were not addressed in the Reconciliation Bill.

"I am a man of my word, and I have kept my word to protect Medicare," Kissell said.

It is unclear how the vote may affect Kissell's re-election prospects. While Kissell does not have significant primary opposition, his re-election effort could be hurt if Democratic Party activists do not enthusiastically work for him in the fall.

Scotland County Democratic Women asked its members to call Kissell's office and urge him to support the measure. The group was sharply critical of Kissell's no vote last year.

Just last week, a labor union group protested outside of Kissell’s office in Concord, demanding to know why he voted against the bill in November and planned to do so again Sunday.

"We will bring him home," Jasper Smith yelled as union members jammed the small lobby of Kissell's office. "We got him in. We will get him out!"

Good bill

Laurinburg's Jan Schmidt said she was "really pleased" that the bill passed.

"Every bill always needs adjustments, and we learn from its implementation," she said. "I believe that opponents of the bill will come to like what it contains, because it will make people's lives better."

The bill would extend coverage to 79,000 people in the 8th District, of which Scotland County is a part. It would also give tax credits and other assistance to 178,000 families and 13,600 small businesses needing financial assistance in the district.

Dr. Lori Heim, a hospitalist at Scotland Memorial Hospital in Laurinburg and president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, is also a big supporter of the legislation.

Heim was one of 11 physicians who had a private audience with the president in October 2009 to promote health care reform.

"Our academy supports health care reform," Heim has said. "It is necessary for the health of the public.

"While it's been a long and sometimes challenging year for health care reform, today's vote on this important legislation marks the start of a health care system that meets the needs of Americans."

Not everyone is happy with the legislation.

According to a poll conducted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, just over half of the voters in the 8th District of North Carolina oppose health care reform legislation.

The Chamber of Commerce poll reported that 51 percent of voters in the 8th District oppose the legislation, with 35 percent supporting it. While 61 percent in the district polled agreed with the statement that health care reform would raise their health care costs, 27 percent disagreed.

The poll included 401 randomly chosen registered voters in March with an error of margin of plus or minus 4.9 percent.

"It was just a big show, a game," Scotland County Republican Chairperson Suzanne Allen said. "It's just a way to make our lives more dependent on the government. This bill will ruin insurance companies, for example, and will make them another private enterprise that has to be rescued by the government."

What the health care bill does: 

¥ Covers an additional 32 million Americans by expanding Medicaid and providing federal subsidies

¥ Requires most American citizens and legal residents to buy health insurance

¥ Creates a health care exchange, a marketplace where uninsured individuals and small businesses can comparison shop for insurance policies

¥ Fines employers with 50 or more employees if any full-time workers qualify for health care subsidies

¥ Increases Medicare payroll tax and expands it to include investment income

¥ Prohibits insurers from denying coverage for pre-existing medical conditions

¥ Reduces out-of-pocket prescription expenses for seniors on Medicare