Hawai'i's congressional delegation isn't holding health care town hall meetings during the August recess.

A Web search shows Hawai'i is the only state that hasn't had the public town hall forums this month.

Reps. Neil Abercrombie and Mazie Hirono, both D-Hawai'i, each held two town hall sessions earlier this summer.

Congress traditionally takes a one-month recess in August, with elected officials heading home to meet with constituents. This year, health care reform has taken center stage in those talks as Washington looks for ways to provide insurance coverage for everyone and stem rising costs.

Not all senators and representatives are holding town hall meetings. Some who are have found themselves being angrily confronted. In some cases, the critics have blasted ideas not even being considered, including a government takeover of health care and so-called "death panels."

There have been allegations the sometimes-confrontational moments have a made-for-TV quality that may have been fomented by opponents to various ideas being brought up in the reform debate. Some officials have taken to holding telephone town hall meetings rather than provide sound bites for cable news programs.

In Hawai'i, there have been none of the outbursts because there have been no town hall meetings in recent weeks as the health reform issue heated up.

Hirono said she has been meeting with businesses, health care providers and other groups to discuss reform issues during her August sojourn.

"My purpose is to have the kind of meetings that are really fruitful as opposed to somebody just coming in and disrupting and yelling," said Hirono, in a video on her Web site of a discussion with a Honolulu Japanese Chamber of Commerce committee.

Hirono spokesman Marvin Buenconsejo declined to be more specific about Hirono's decision to switch to the small-group settings. She held two town halls in Kapa'a and Hale'iwa in late June and early July.

Buenconsejo said there were emotional moments at the meetings, but "people have been respectful."

Health care reform has touched off dozens of calls to Hawai'i congressional offices, including non-Hawai'i residents who have been urged to call to support or speak against reform ideas. Most have sincere questions about reform, said Abercrombie spokesman Dave Helfert.

Questions include whether Hawai'i's landmark Prepaid Health Care Act will be superseded by the reform, whether Medicare will be cut and whether employer-sponsored health care will be part of the legislation.

Spokesmen for the Hawai'i delegation say it's hard to answer some of the questions because of so many different proposals being discussed, but that they've lobbied for an exemption that keeps the state's Prepaid Health Care Act, and say Medicare should stay intact.

Other callers don't waste time with niceties.

"Our people have had their ears burned off," Helfert said. "As soon as they say hello or aloha, in our case, they start yelling at you."

In some cases, the angst is driven by worries that health care will be diminished.

"They're being scared by organizations that make them fearful for their health care."

There was no yelling at the two town hall meetings Abercrombie held in Honolulu in May and July, Helfert said.

Abercrombie, while not scheduled to hold any more of his own town hall events this month, is going to take part with Hirono in a so-called tele-town hall meeting sponsored by AARP on Sept. 1.

AARP's Hawaii chapter will call 18,000 retired members that day and ask them if they'd like to participate in the one-hour meeting over the telephone. On Sept. 2, AARP has scheduled a face-to-face meeting between Hirono and its members on Kaua'i.

Abercrombie also has formed a 16-member panel to discuss health reform issues.

Jesse Broder Van Dyke, an aide to Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i, said his boss already has scheduled hearings on veterans affairs during the break and decided not to squeeze in health care this time.

"In light of the limited time, he decided against town hall meetings this time," he said.

Peter Boylan, a spokes-man for Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawai'i, said the senator didn't schedule any town halls but has made himself available for such questions at public events. Yesterday, Inouye held five events on the Big Island.

"He's out in the community," said Boylan, noting that Inouye has touched upon health care in speeches and taken questions from audiences at big events.

"If people ask him a question, he'll answer them," Boylan said.