2012 North Dakota Senate Debates: on Health Care

Heidi Heitkamp: No Medicare vouchers; they'd make system insolvent

Heitkamp said Republicans' so-called "premium support" proposal, which would provide a voucher for beneficiaries under age 55 to shop around for health coverage, would create "real problems in making sure that that system is solvent" if only the elderly who are the sickest remain on traditional Medicare. She said her solutions for keeping Medicare solvent include negotiating prescription drug prices, reducing fraud and waste and promoting wellness.

Berg championed the proposal as giving Americans an option to choose a better policy, but he focused most of his comments on the effects of the Affordable Care Act.

Heidi Heitkamp: $716B cut from Medicare is biggest fib of 2012 campaign

"It cuts money from hospitals and physicians in North Dakota. It cuts hospice. These are real cuts," Berg said.

Heitkamp called Berg's $716 billion-cut claim "the biggest fib in this whole campaign," noting Berg voted for such a cut under vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan's budget plan.

Asked how they would address Obamacare, Berg said he would repeal the law, calling it "the one clear distinction in this race." He said his wife, a physician, said it would put the government between her and her patients, and he referred to recent reports that Olive Garden and Red Lobster are putting more workers on part-time status to see if it will limit costs from Obamacare. "This bill creates a cloud of uncertainty, and it's hurting our whole economy," Berg said.

Heidi Heitkamp: Retain the ObamaCare "frontier states" amendment

Berg agreed that "we need to deal with that" frontier amendment, explaining afterward that he would reintroduce the provision in the Senate if elected. Heitkamp countered afterward that Conrad and former Sen. Byron Dorgan tried for 20 years to pass the amendment.

Rick Berg: Give Americans an option to choose a better Medicare policy

Berg championed the proposal as giving Americans an option to choose a better policy, but he focused most of his comments on the effects of the Affordable Care Act. He challenged Heitkamp's on how long it would take Medicare to go bankrupt under Obamacare and said the law would raid Medicare of $716 billion and "people are going to quit taking Medicare patients."

"It cuts money from hospitals and physicians in North Dakota. It cuts hospice. These are real cuts," Berg said.

Rick Berg: Repeal ObamaCare; it creates a cloud of uncertainty

Heitkamp, whose husband is a family doctor, said she supports keeping the act's provision for people with preexisting conditions and retaining the "frontier states" amendment, which outgoing U.S. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., has said would address inequities in Medicare funding to states and boost payments to North Dakota hospitals and doctors more than $650 million over 10 years. Heitkamp said there is good and bad in the act, and "there is absolutely no reason not to amend the law as it currently exists."

Heidi Heitkamp: N.D. needs a state health care exchange, ObamaCAre or not

During last November's special session the House voted 64-30 against the exchange. Heitkamp went on to say that North Dakota should have a health care exchange, federal law or not.

Berg said the law needs to be repealed and replaced piecemeal. He said the law's mandate to purchase insurance will hurt businesses and families. "They hit middle America hard," Berg said. He pointed to the announcement earlier in the week that Olive Garden & Red Lobster will be moving away from hiring full-time employees to keep costs down under the law. The law states that businesses with 50 or more employees can be subject to fines if full-time workers aren't covered.

Rick Berg: Replace ObamaCare piecemeal; it hurts middle America

During last November's special session the House voted 64-30 against the exchange. Heitkamp went on to say that North Dakota should have a health care exchange, federal law or not.

Berg said the law needs to be repealed and replaced piecemeal. He said the law's mandate to purchase insurance will hurt businesses and families. "They hit middle America hard," Berg said. He pointed to the announcement earlier in the week that Olive Garden & Red Lobster will be moving away from hiring full-time employees to keep costs down under the law. The law states that businesses with 50 or more employees can be subject to fines if full-time workers aren't covered.

Heidi Heitkamp: Changes are needed to ObamaCare, but not repeal

Heitkamp said changes are needed with the law when it comes to the mandate and the tax on health insurance. But that it should not be repealed. She says doing so would get rid of the frontier states amendment, which she says would be impossible to get back.

Rick Berg: ObamaCare is an expensive government takeover

Heitkamp said changes are needed with the law when it comes to the mandate and the tax on health insurance. But that it should not be repealed. She says doing so would get rid of the frontier states amendment, which she says would be impossible to get back.

Heidi Heitkamp: Extremely supportive of Critical Access Hospitals

Heitkamp: "The vast majority of North Dakota's hospitals-- 36 of the 52 certified hospitals--are Critical Access Hospitals. The facilities are the lynchpin to North Dakota's health care system. The president has proposed cutting funding for Critical Access Hospitals and that's something I think he's wrong about.

Berg: "I'm extremely supportive of it. Rural health care is key. The challenge in Washington is that they assume every city has a million people in it. Also, I worry about the president's health care bill, which implements an appointed board of officials to make recommendations about reimbursement levels. With that, we would end up going down a trail of power being taken out of the hands of our elected officials."

Rick Berg: ObamaCare takes power away from our elected officials

Berg: "I'm extremely supportive of it. Rural health care is key. The challenge in Washington is that they assume every city has a million people in it. Also, I worry about the president's health care bill, which implements an appointed board of officials to make recommendations about reimbursement levels. With that, we would end up going down a trail of power being taken out of the hands of our elected officials."

Heitkamp: "The vast majority of North Dakota's hospitals--36 of the 52 certified hospitals--are Critical Access Hospitals. The facilities are the lynchpin to North Dakota's health care system. The president has proposed cutting funding for Critical Access Hospitals and that's something I think he's wrong about."

Heidi Heitkamp: 2010: enthusiastic support for ObamaCare; less so now

Her campaign offered little response to the charges, except to say that "(health care reform has) come up when she's been around the state," adding that Heitkamp has been focused on discussing energy issues. On health care, Dunlap, Hinck and Dill each said they believe the 2010 federal health care reform law should be upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Pollard, however, said he believes the requirement that individual buy health insurance is unconstitutional. "It's an extremely large assumption of power by the federal government," he said.

Heidi Heitkamp: Federal mandate is serious problem; ObamaCare is not perfect

But Heitkamp's remarks offer a stark contrast to her rousing support for health care reform two years ago. "Her critique of Pres. Obama's most controversial act reveals the delicate balancing act she'll attempt to perform--embracing the more popular pieces of reform, while carving out distance from its centerpiece," a Politico analyst writes. "The problem for Heitkamp is that the criticism appears to be new. There isn't evidence she raised concerns about the health care law until she was a candidate."