2014 ID Senate debate: on Health Care

Jim Risch: ObamaCare is a regulatory quagmire

A: Yes. I fought against ObamaCare originally and I voted for and cosponsored every attempt to repeal it. This regulatory quagmire is not the solution for America's healthcare problems. We need more jobs and its small businesses that create those jobs. ObamaCare has discouraged small businesses from expanding. It has instead encouraged small business owners to cut hours, hire more part-time employees, increase the amount the employees contribute to healthcare, and in some instances, even quit providing healthcare coverage. When so many Americans are seeking stable sustainable employment, we do not need this law with thousands of pages of federal mandates and its chilling effect on job growth. I would replace ObamaCare with market-oriented reforms; a plan that gives individual Americans greater control over their healthcare and reduces the cost. The Patient CARE Act proposed by republican senators is a better alternative.

Nels Mitchell: Most of ObamaCare is good; fix the parts that aren't

A: Certainly, there are problems with the ACA, and they need to be addressed. We should keep what works and fix what doesn't work. In the U.S. Senate, I will work with colleagues from both parties to repeal, or amend, those parts of the ACA that do not make sense and to retain those provisions that are working well. Most Idahoans I've talked to tell me they are relieved that coverage can no longer be denied because of pre-existing conditions and that they appreciate the fact that coverage can no longer be limited by annual or lifetime caps on benefits. Parents are glad to know that their young adult children can remain on the parents' health care policies until they turn 26. But the ACA still needs work; consideration should be given to removing individual mandates and raising the cap on employer mandates. And, of even more importance, the ACA has not put the breaks on escalating health care costs in this country.