President Obama is scheduled to be in Bristol for the second time in a little more than a year today, appearing at a Kroger store to push for public support of health care reform.

The supermarket on Midway Street will be closed for six hours, from noon to 6 p.m., for the presidential visit that is invitation-only. The president is set to arrive at 4:05 p.m. after a similar health care town hall in Raleigh, N.C., earlier in the day.

Kroger workers were busy Tuesday setting up a stage in the produce section near the deli, Kroger spokesman Carl York said.

"We're just thrilled," he said, adding that it is unusual for Kroger to close its doors. Typically the store is open every day of the year but Christmas.

A few elected officials, including the mayor of Bristol, were invited, but the majority of the crowd will be the approximately 100 employees who work at the store.

Kroger employees are all members of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which has been vocal in its support for Obama's health care reform efforts.

"Health care is always an issue at the bargaining table, and it is more and more expensive all the time," said Jim Lowthers, president of the local 400 union. "The devil is obviously in the details. But we do support health care reform, and we do support a public [insurance] program to keep [private] insurance companies honest."

The White House did not respond to questions about the event or the location. But political observers said there are several reasons the Obama administration selected Bristol, which straddles the Virginia/Tennessee line.

Bob Denton, a professor of political communications at Virginia Tech, said the upcoming fall gubernatorial race and the 2012 presidential race are factors for having the president visit.

Additionally, Denton said, the visit is also a way to pressure U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb to support health care reform.

"This is a very subtle way of using the office as kind of an influence," Denton said. "He's playing in their back yard, and every vote is going to be critical."

That isn't to say there aren't health care issues that are raised in Bristol and the surrounding communities in the Appalachia region, Denton said. Difficulties in accessing health care and disparities in health are both frequently highlighted problems for the region.

A free medical clinic held over the weekend about 60 miles west of Bristol showed just how dire the health care needs are for rural Virginia communities, said U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon.

Preliminary numbers show that 2,715 patients were treated for free at the Remote Area Medical clinic held in Wise County. That number could increase by 10 percent once the numbers are finalized.

"It was a record number and it puts an exclamation point behind the problem we have with our system," Boucher said.

The preliminary value of care was estimated at $1.6 million.

The Wise County clinic had a lot to do with why Obama decided to come to Bristol, Boucher said.

Boucher said Tuesday afternoon that he most likely would not attend the meeting, choosing instead to tend to scheduled business in Washington.

Boucher said he is waiting to see full details of the health plan before he takes a firm stance on aspects of reform.

Reform must help the millions of Americans without insurance and it must address some of the disparities in how Medicare pays for care in rural areas verses urban areas, he said. Rural providers are often reimbursed at a much lower rate.

"If we are going to have a government plan, it cannot be based on Medicare rates," Boucher said. "And here's why. If that were to happen, the hospitals in the district I represent would be placed at financial risk, and the financial stability of health care providers, apart from hospitals, would also be placed at financial risk."

Obama was in Bristol at Virginia High School in June last year to launch his general election bid against John McCain.

At the time, he said: "Southwest Virginia is an example of so much that is good about this country, but so many people have been forgotten. There are good, hardworking, decent, generous people in beautiful towns all throughout this region, but Washington hasn't been listening to you. It hasn't been paying attention to you. I'm here to let you know I'm going to be paying attention and I'm going to be listening."