The politics of health care

As part of the Sun-Gazette's ongoing series running until election week, candidates for either state or federal office are asked questions on politically related issues.

This week, the five people seeking election for both 5th and 10th Congressional District were queried about health care.

The 10th Congress candidates are Chris Hackett, Republican, and U.S. Rep. Chris Carney, D-Dimock. The three candidates running for 5th Congress are James Fryman, Libertarian; Glenn Thompson, Republican; and Mark McCracken, Democrat.

This week's questions: Nearly 50 million people in this nation are without health insurance, a problem that not only affects those without coverage but the insured who must dig deeper into their pockets to pay for their needs.

What are your plans for not only insuring more Americans, but for making coverage more affordable for people?

What special provisions should be made to improve health care coverage, including for prescription drugs, for senior citizens, or veterans, or those people with special medical concerns?

Carney: People from across our district have contacted me to express their concern with shrinking health care coverage, skyrocketing costs, and insufficient coverage. Forty-six million Americans are completely without health insurance, including over 1 million people from Pennsylvania. As the most powerful nation on Earth, I believe we have a moral obligation to ensure that all Americans have access to quality healthcare. I will work tirelessly to bring health coverage to those who need it.

I have consistently voted to reauthorize and expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which would have provided health insurance to 10 million underprivileged children, including 312,807 children in Pennsuylvania. SCHIP, modeled after Pennsylvania's own state children's health insurance program (CHIP), delivered tremendous results to our state. Started by Gov. Casey, CHIP is designed to provide insurance coverage to children whose families earn too much to qualify for medical assistance, but who could not afford to purchase private insurance.

Unfortunately, President Bush has constantly vetoed such expansion. My opponent has come out in favor of this unconscionable veto, saying Chlldren's Health Care doesn't "reflect the values of the district in any way, shape or form" (The Hill Newspaper, 10/18/07). I strongly disagree, and will continue to work with Congress to override this unconscionable veto.

We also need to focus on prevention, and make sure we can save costs upfront with proper preventative care to keep more people healthier longer. In Mehoopany, Pa., the Proctor and Gamble plant has started offering incentives for preventative health care. Employees get discounts for losing weight, quitting smoking, and exercising. Not only has productivity increased, but employees hve started competing with each other. Preventative health care makes a huge difference - for our own health and for our overall costs.

We also need to make health care more affordable for our small businesses. Right now, health care premiums are taking up a significant part of the budget for small business owners. Instead of a raise, small businesss owners are seeing extra revenue go toward rising health car premiums. Small businesses are a vital part of our local community and key to the economic development of the 10th District of Pennsylvania. Last year, Congress passed, and I supported, legislation that included tax cuts for small businesses amounting to $4.8 billion over 10 years.

The way we take care of our seniors and our veterans tells a lot about us as a community.

As someone who still wears the uniform, I have made veterans health care a priority. Taking care of our veterans and military families is a critical aspect - that is why I am fighting to stabilize TRICARE co-payments and create an additional VA clinic right here in our district.

The National Defense Authorization Act, which I was proud to support, would also prohibit any increase in TRICARE fees. Veterans should not have to pay more money for their health care coverage. I also believe that we need to do more to treat post traumatic stress disorder among returning soldiers to ensure that the transition from soldier to civilian is a smooth one. The National Defense Authorization Act establishes a comprehensive policy to address veterans' mental health and creates centers of excellence for the diagnosis and treatment of veterans' mental health.

I have sponsored legislation to expand eligibility for VA dental care for our disabled veterans. I am also proud to be an original co-sponsor of the VA Assured Funding Act. This bill will make the VA budget a mandatory rather than a discretionary budget item. I am also working to ensure that our troops receive adequate care for TBI and PTSD, as well as stabilize TRICARE fees for our military families.

Working with the VA, I am proud to have secured an additional VA Outreach Clinic in Pennsylvania's 10th District, to provide for our veterans and military families, making health care more accessible and cutting down on travel time.

In addition, more needs to be done to protect our elderly citizens. That is why I teamed up with Republican Congressman Todd Platts of Pennsylvania to introduce the Caregiver Tax Relief Act of 2008 (HR 6448). This bill creates a $2,500 tax credit to be used by an individual caring for an individual with long-term care needs.

Today, a lot of families are taking on the responsibility of caring for an aging parent. We should be helping these families in need, and helping seniors stay close to their loved ones. The Caregiver Tax Relief Act means helping a working mother who also cares for her elderly father, or making it easier for families to all chip in to pay for long-term care. I see families doing this every day, but caregivers also need to take care of themselves. This tax break makes caregiving a little bit easier.

To lower costs of health care, we need to reduce the cost of prescription drugs and to increase access to them. Americans pay on average 174 percent more for the same drugs than the rest of the world. I support a variety of measures to make prescription drugs more affordable. I was proud to co-sponsor and support H.R. 4, the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2007, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in January 2007. This bipartisan legislation would cut the cost of health care and improve access to presciption drugs by allowing the U.S. government to negotiate with drug companies.

I also co-sponsored H.R. 380, the Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Act of 2007. This bipartisan legislation permits the importation of safe, effective, and affordable medicine from Canada and other industrial nations. In addition, I support the use of medically equivalent generic drugs, which are cheaper than brand name versions.

Hackett: We need to work together to fix the insurance problem in this coiuntry. We need to do several things. First, we need to introduce interstate competition for healthcare much like we have for care insurance. Second, we need to remove the red tape regulations that drive up the cost of insurance. Choice is the key for us to solve this problem. Right now American consumers suffer from a lack of true competition. Expanding Health Savings Accounts, leveling the playing ground between big business and small business, and increasing this level of competition will drive down the cost of health insurance and increase the quality of care. We also must make sure that those who truly cannot provide for themselves are able to receive the care they need and deserve. We also need to rein in on the trial lawyers and out-of-control lawsuit abuse that drives up the costs for all of us. I will oppose government control over health care or socialized medicine. Such programs increase burdens on taxpayers, deny consumer choice, and lead to more bureaucracy and worse medical practice.

Our seniors deserve the best medical care and the biggest hurdle we have to guaranteeing that in the long term is the out of control costs in the health care system. We need to do more to drive down defensive care and increase the level of preventative health care. We have made a promise to those in our armed services as well. We need to make sure that the care they get at the VA should be the best care available. These sacrifices that they have made for our freedom require us to live up our end of the bargain.

McCracken: The solution I promote to make health care coverage more affordable is to operate a national health insurance purchasing pool. The main components of the program would be to pay reasonable premiums in and pay claims out. The key provision would be the plan would be strictly not for profit. By removing the private insurance companies, a huge overhead cost of 30 percent or more is eliminated. This plan would make coverage much more affordable for individuals and businesses and remove a level of corporate bureaucracy from the system.

We have to adopt a national health care policy that puts care for our citizens above corporate profit decisions. When we have the health insurance giants dictating who they will and won't cover combined with a profits first attitude, our health care system fails those who need coverage. We need to make sure our senior citizens and veterans can get the services they need close to home. I have promoted the idea that the VA should be encouraged to sub-contract services with local hospitals, especially when our older veterans need care and services might not be available at a nearby VA facility.

Fryman: Health insurance premiums cost more than heath care itself used to cost. I think health insurance is what makes health care unaffordable. Most people don't really have health insurance, they have a payment system for health care insurance and health maintenance. If we had auto insurance like our health insurance we would be filing claims to get the car washed, to get the oil changed, and to fill up the gas tank. And, the car washes, mechanics and filling stations would have to charge more to hire the clerks to file the claims paperwork. If we removed health insurance from the mix for routine doctor visits and just used it for major expenses all routine visits would be far less expensive and we could pay for them out of pocket. Plus, the cost of health insurance premiums would come way down.

We need to get insurance out of routine health care so it becomes affordable again.

The same goes for prescription coverage. Drug companies load all of their R&D costs onto Americans because insurance pays for it. Drugs would be affordable and people could afford them if prescription insurance were outlawed.

Thompson: We must work to improve the affordability of health care insurance coverage. This includes reducing unnecessary costs imposed by regulations that serve only to increase cost and decrease access. Initiatives such as the federally supported clinics provide a cost-effective model for heath care access. Providing individuals a tax credit for health care costs will expand affordability for many families. Additionally, we can expand employer-based coverage by allowing businesses to deduct their employees health insurance costs from their corporate tax obligations. This is a challenging issue tha needs leaders with the right knowledge and expertise to develop the right solutions. As a 28-year health care professional with direct care and health care public policy experience I am committed to providing leadership on this critical issue as your next member of Congress.

My Prescription for America's Health is designed to improve access, affordability and quality of health care. This includes peeling away unnecessary costly regulations. We must expand rural health inititatives that support our rural hospitals and recruit qualified staff. Additional steps include expanding small business association health plans, tax deduction of health care expenses, tort reform and business deduction of employee health care costs from corporate taxes. We must assure that any savings recognized through merger of health insurance organizations benefit the health care consumers in the community through lower premiums. Finally, we need development of an outcome-based medicine payment system.