State of Iowa Archives: on Health Care

Abby Finkenauer: As state rep fought for high-quality healthcare for all

Al Gore: Help seniors by helping Medicare

GORE: I allocate $374 billion over the next 10 years to the Medicare program. Under Senator Bradley’s plan, he doesn’t put a penny into Medicare.Under my plan, [an elderly patient] would get the cost of her prescription drugs covered. Under Senator Bradley’s plan, she would have a $500 deductible and then $300 premiums, so she wouldn’t get a penny of help under Senator Bradley’s plan.

BRADLEY: As a part of an overall health care program that I’ve proposed, I cover drug costs for senior citizens. After they’ve paid the first $800, they pay 25% above that. If we make sure they get access to the right drugs and we pay for them, that will save overall health care costs, because they will not be put into hospitals or have to pay very high expenses for doctor bills.

Al Gore: Weighted averages don’t work in Medicaid world

BRADLEY: This is not a voucher. It’s a weighted average of the different states that will be adjusted over time. Everyone who has Medicaid now will have access to health care but they’ll have access to health care in a federal system which is the same system that provides help for congressmen and Senators.

GORE: Where could they buy the health care benefits that they get right now with $150 a month? A weighted average means a half the states would get less than $150 a month. A weighted average sounds like the guy who had his feet on a block of ice and his head in the oven and according to the weighted average, he was comfortable. It doesn’t work out in real life that way.

Al Sharpton: Right to health care, to education, and to vote

Alan Keyes: Focus on cost-reductions, not methods of payment

Alan Keyes: Let market determine health payments, not bureaucrats

Alan Keyes: Health care choice will save money for long-term health care

Amy Klobuchar: Non-profit public option: I have a plan for that

KLOBUCHAR: Senator Sanders and I have worked together on pharmaceuticals for a long, long time. And we agree on this. But what I don't agree with is his position on health care. This debate isn't real. Over 2/3 of the Democrats in the U.S. Senate are not on the bill that you and Senator Warren are on. You have numerous governors that are Democratic that don't support this. The answer is a nonprofit public option. The real debate we should be having is how do we make it easier for people to get coverage for addiction and mental health. I have a plan for that. And then, what should we do about long-term care? We need to make it easier for people to get long-term care insurance.

Amy Klobuchar: We need a paid-for healthcare plan, not a pipe dream

Sen. Bernie SANDERS: Medicare for all ends all premiums, all copayments. It ends the absurdity of deductibles. It ends out-of-pocket expenses. It takes on the pharmaceutical industry, which in some cases charges 10 times more for the same prescription drugs sold abroad as sold here. A Medicare for all single-payer program will end the $100 billion a year that the health care industry makes and the $500 billion a year we spend dealing with thousands of separate insurance plans. Health care is a human right.

Andy McGuire: Healthcare is a right for all Iowans

With the three insurance companies that provide individual policies to Iowans threatening to leave the state, we must look for new solutions to stabilize the marketplace.

Andy McGuire: Reduce costs through preventive care, lower drug prices

Barack Obama: Being poor in this country is hazardous to your health

A: The president can do everything to address this and can afford it if we are able to bring people together to get it done. And this is something that I am committed to doing as president. But it is indisputable that if you are poor in this country that is hazardous to your health, if you are black or brown, too, and poor, it can be downright deadly. Right now, even when blacks or Latinos have the same health insurance as whites, they are not receiving the same quality of care. And that means that we’ve got to have more black and brown doctors and nurses; we’ve got to have studies in terms of making sure that we are eliminating these disparities; we’ve got to make sure that we are doing outreach in these communities ahead of time to prevent disease.

Bernie Sanders: Medicare-for-All saves money to offset raising taxes

V.P. Joe BIDEN: I think we need to tell voters what it's going to cost. A 4 percent tax on income over $24,000 doesn't even come close to paying for between $30 trillion, and some estimates as high as $40 trillion over 10 years. That's doubling the entire federal budget per year. The way to do it is to take ObamaCare, rebuild it, provide a public option, allow Medicare for those folks who want it, and reduce the cost of drug prices. That costs $740 billion over 10 years. I lay out how I'd pay for t

Bernie Sanders: End the absurdity of co-payments and $600B corporate costs

Sen. Amy KLOBUCHAR: I think it is much better to build on the Affordable Care Act. If you want to be practical and progressive at the same time and have a plan and not a pipedream, you have to show how you're going to pay for it. I think you should show how you're going to pay for things, Bernie. I do.

Bernie Sanders: Help insurance industry employees transition to new jobs

SANDERS: We build in to our Medicare for All program a transition fund of many, many billions of dollars that will provide for up to five years income and health care and job training for those people.

Bill Bradley: Covering drugs is the key to reducing health care costs

GORE: I allocate $374 billion over the next 10 years to the Medicare program. Under Senator Bradley’s plan, he doesn’t put a penny into Medicare.Under my plan, [an elderly patient] would get the cost of her prescription drugs covered. Under Senator Bradley’s plan, she would have a $500 deductible and then $300 premiums, so she wouldn’t get a penny of help under Senator Bradley’s plan.

BRADLEY: As a part of an overall health care program that I’ve proposed, I cover drug costs for senior citizens. After they’ve paid the first $800, they pay 25% above that. If we make sure they get access to the right drugs and we pay for them, that will save overall health care costs, because they will not be put into hospitals or have to pay very high expenses for doctor bills

Bill Bradley: All people on Medicaid should have a primary care physician

Bob Krause: 70% of Millenials support ObamaCare

Tweets from Bob Krause @KrauseForIowa
• GOP's problem: they replaced windshield with the rear view mirror. Great for finding where we've been but not for where we want to go!
• Millenials:70% support ObamaCare. 2/3 support path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants & 67 percent support gay marriage.

Bob Graham: Rx drug benefit without herding people into HMOs

I will do everything in my power to move us on a step-by-step basis towards full health coverage for all Americans and with costs that they can afford.

Bruce Braley: AdWatch: Targeted by RNC robocalls for support of ObamaCare

The targets besides Braley are Rep. Gary Peters (MI), Sens. Mark Warner (VA), Mark Begich (AK), Dick Durbin (IL), Kay Hagan (NC), Mary Landrieu (LA), Jeff Merkley (OR), Mark Pryor (AR), Jeanne Shaheen (NH), and Mark Udall (CO). The robocall script reads:

"President Obama and the Democrats said you could keep your healthcare plan under ObamaCare. Now we know [SENATOR] actually VOTED to make it more difficult. Call [SENATOR] at (XXX)-XXX-XXX & ask why [he/she] lied."

The robocalls are a response to Democrats launching the "GOP Shutdown Watch" campaign, highlighting Republican senate candidates who supported the partial federal government shutdown.

Bruce Braley: ObamaCare should be fixed and improved, not repealed

Braley admitted that ObamaCare, formally the Affordable Care Act, was not perfect as passed. But he used the topic as an opportunity to show that he can work on solutions in a bipartisan way. "I think that the Affordable Care Act needs to be fixed and improved," he said. "Sen. Ernst would repeal it and continue to obstruct efforts to try to improve it."

Bruce Braley: Vehemently opposes tort reform: don't take away right to sue

Bruce Braley: Repealing ObamaCare would deprive millions of insurance

Braley shot back: "The reality is that when you pass a huge change in how health is delivered to millions of Americans, there are bound to be some things you have to deal with along the way. That's what we've done. Repealing the entire bill, and taking health care away from millions of Americans, and adding costs--premiums will go up 225 percent in Iowa if you eliminate what's in place right now."

Carol Moseley-Braun: Break link between healthcare and employment

Carol Moseley-Braun: Pay for universal care with money already in system

Carol Moseley-Braun: Replace patchwork system with Medicare-modeled system

We have to restore the relationship between providers and patients so that the insurance companies don’t become gatekeepers to the system and get in the middle of care decisions. We have to make certain that we maintain the quality of care that American people expect.

Carol Moseley-Braun: Single-payer system is the only answer

A: I do. The only answer for our health-care system in this country is single-payer. If we go to a single-payer system, we will create jobs; we will give a boost to our economy. In fact, based on the numbers for other countries that have single-payer, they are right now spending about $4,000 a year per capita on health care. We spend much, much more than that, and we get a lot less back because of all of the waste in the system.

Cathy Glasson: Medicare For All: fundamental right to health care

Christopher Reed: First cut waste, fraud, & abuse in Medicare/Medicaid

A: No. But I would make sure that there is the waste and the fraud and abuse of that is taken care of.

Q: The waste, fraud and abuse is an easy phrase. But how do you actually cut spending?

A: Well, I guess I would have to go there and I would have to look at what is in there and what isn’t and write bills appropriately that take care of those measures.

Chuck Grassley: Medicare has more drugs by not negotiating prices like VA

Grassley said there was a tradeoff. Medicare has access to a greater variety of drugs because it doesn't negotiate. "The CBO [Congressional Budget Office] says it won't save any money if you have the negotiations," he said.

Cindy Axne: Member of Affordable and Accessible Health Care Task Force

David Young: Market solutions better than one-size-fits-all ObamaCare

David believes ObamaCare should be dismantled and replaced by solutions such as allowing individuals to purchase insurance across state lines, price transparency, and reducing hospital readmissions by improving follow-up care. These are a few commonsense ideas of market-based solutions which can bring down the cost of health insurance and of medical services. We must ensure coverage is provided to individuals even if they have preexisting conditions and that young people still struggling in the job market are able to continue to receive coverage under a parent's plan.

Deidre DeJear: Quality affordable healthcare, mental health imperative

Dennis Kucinich: Private companies charge 18% admin & Medicare charges 3%

That’s why I say it’s time to take the profit out of health care. We have the money in the system, but right now the private companies are charging about 18% for administration, while the cost of Medicare administration is only 3%.

I think it is urgent that we take profit out of health care. How many homes have this discussion every day in America? “Well, I don’t feel well. Ah, we don’t have the money to go to the doctor.” Or, “Well, we can’t afford that surgery.” We need to stop those kind of discussions in America. We have the money in this country.

Dick Gephardt: Fact Check: Dean agreed with Clinton on cuts, not Gingrich

GEPHARDT: The Republicans tried to cut Medicare by $270 billion. And Bill Clinton and the Democrats fought them off. At that time, you were head of the governors’ association, and you agreed with their proposal.

FACTCHECK: Dean did speak approvingly back then of a Republican proposal in the Senate that would have reined in Medicare spending growth by $270 billion over seven years. But if slowing the growth of spending is a “cut” then the Democrats were proposing one, too. The Clinton administration was proposing to slow Medicare spending by $124 billion over the same period.

Dick Gephardt: Tax breaks to all companies to cover all employees

I will cover part time as well as full time. I’ll cover retirees as well as active, and I will give an equal subsidy to every state and local government in this country, so that all public employees are treated the same as private employees with health care in this country.

If you want health care than can never be taken away from you, if you want to make sure that you have guaranteed care where the price won’t go up and it won’t be taken away, if you want health care that goes to every public employee in this country, state and local government and the like, if you want to give $1.5 billion from the federal government to state and local government here in Iowa in the next three years, then I am your candidate for president.

Dick Gephardt: Subsidize 60% of health costs for all employees

GEPHARDT: My thoughts come from 25 years of working on this issue in the Congress, including trying to lead the fight to pass the Clinton health care plan in 1993 & 1994. I believe my plan covers the bases and gets down what we need to get done. First of all, it covers everybody. I do it by requiring every employer to cover all of their employees. I cover part time as well as full time. One of the games that’s going on is companies like WalMart are dropping people to part time so they don’t have to give them health insurance. I solve that problem. This issue is the moral issue of our time. You’ve got to treat everybody fairly. I give an equal subsidy, 60% of the costs of health care, to public employees. There is not another plan on the table that does that.

Dick Gephardt: AdWatch: Criticizes Dean for 11-year-old outdated stances

AD AUDIO: NARRATOR: Did you know Howard Dean called Medicare “one of the worst federal programs ever”? Did you know he supported the Republican plan to cut Medicare by $270 billion? And did you know Howard Dean supported cutting Social Security retirement benefits to balance the budget?

GEPHARDT: I will be a president who will fight to protect Medicare and Social Security.

ANALYSIS: What the ad obscures is that the Dean quotes are at least nine years old and do not reflect the positions he holds today. When Dean called Medicare “one of the worst federal programs” in 1993, he was referring to the way the government ran it. Dean was quoted by a Vermont newspaper in 1995 as saying he could support GOP efforts to “reduce the Medicare growth rate,” but the $270 billion figure was not mentioned. Dean did say in 1995 “we need to increase the retirement age”, but has since changed his stance.

Donald Trump: Save Medicare & Medicaid without cutting them to the bone

Trump made no effort to woo mainstream GOP elected officials. He remarked, "I am a Republican, and I am disappointed with our Republican politicians because they let our president get away with absolute murder."

Donald Trump: ObamaCare is a catastrophe that must be repealed & replaced

Speaking at the Iowa Freedom Summit in January, Trump said ObamaCare is a catastrophe that must be repealed and replaced. In 2011, Trump suggested that the health insurance industry have more ability to cross state lines. In "The America We Deserve" Trump wrote that he supported universal healthcare and a system that would mirror Canada's government-run healthcare service.

Doug Butzier: Opposes ObamaCare

A: Absolutely not.

Duncan Hunter: Allow Americans to buy health insurance across state lines

Duncan Hunter: SCHIP bill is the first extension of socialized medicine

Eddie Mauro: Medicare for all (under age 55) who want it

Under the Mauro Plan, Medicare would be allowed to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies to lower drug prices. In addition, the importation of pharmaceuticals from Canada will be allowed.

Eddie Mauro: Everybody needs to have health care in this country

Elizabeth Warren: Let government manufacture drugs when there's a price spike

WARREN: There are a whole lot of drugs, about 90% of drugs, that are not under patent. They're generic drugs. The drug industry has figured out how to manipulate this industry to keep jerking the prices up and up and up. So my view is, let's give them a little competition. The government lets contracts for all kind of things. Let's let the contracts out. Put the contracts out so that we can put more generic drugs out there and drive down those prices. This is a way to make markets work, not to try to move away from the market. You don't have to even use price controls. The whole idea behind it is get some competition out there so the price of these drugs that are no longer under patent drops where it should be.

Elizabeth Warren: Tax the 1 percent and we can provide health care to all

Mayor Pete BUTTIGIEG: It's not true that the plan I'm proposing is small. We've got to move past a mentality that suggests that the bigness of plans only consists of how many trillions of dollars they put through the Treasury. This would be the biggest thing we've done to American health care in a half-century. On prescription drugs, we'll have an out-of-pocket cap, even if you don't get the subsidies that would make it free, a $250 monthly cap.

Fred Hubbell: Stop Medicaid privatization; it failed the most vulnerable

Gary Bauer: A patient bill of rights fits the conservative agenda

George W. Bush: Keep Medicare in government, but provide flexibility

George W. Bush: Create Review Board to hear HMO complaints

George W. Bush: Tax-deductible long-term care insurance for retirement

In terms of long-term care for the baby boomers, we ought to encourage the purchase of long-term care insurance and allow deductibility of that insurance so that the new younger generations are able to plan more aptly for when they retire.

George W. Bush: Replace 132,000-page Medicare document with senior choice

Hillary Clinton: Pledges to support $50B for AIDS relief in US and world

Howard Dean: Bush prescription: take 2 tax cuts and see me in the morning

My prescription is a little different. I want a different kind of America. In our state everybody under 18 has health insurance, and I want an America where we all have health insurance that can't be taken away.

Howard Dean: As doctor, knows health system; and knows how to pass plan

DEAN: I'm a doctor. Not only do I know how the system needs to work, I also know what we need to do to make it pass. My plan covers every single American. It's cost is less than half of the Bush tax cut so you all can guess how I plan to pay for it. It uses public programs and private programs, and it does not give big corporations subsidies. It costs about a third of Gephardt's plan.

Howard Dean: Fact Check: Dean agreed with Clinton on cuts, not Gingrich

Jake Porter: Oppose ObamaCare

A: Strongly oppose.

Jim Carlin: Allow seniors to deduct cost of prescription and OTC drugs

Joe Biden: 4% tax doesn't bring in trillions to cover Medicare for All

Sen. Bernie SANDERS: Medicare For All will cost substantially less than the status quo. Medicare For All will end the absurdity of paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs and health care, while we have 87 million uninsured and underinsured. Under Medicare For All, one of the provisions we have to pay for it is a 4% tax on income, exempting the first $29,000. So the average family in America that makes $60,000 would pay $1,200 a year, compared to that family paying $12,000 a year.

Joe Biden: Add mental health parity to ObamaCare, with Biden option

John Edwards: Bush works for big HMOs and big pharma; I stand up for you

I have done it. I have fought them all of my life. It is what I have done since I've been in the US Senate. I have offered legislation to bring down the cost of prescription drugs for every single American.

The only reason that the efforts we have made in the Congress to bring down the cost of health care in America are not the law of the land, is because the president works for those people, and we have got to put somebody in the White House who will stand up for you, will stand up against them, and will fight that culture in Washington, that prevents taking them on.

John Edwards: Cap on damages for personal injuries is discriminatory

A: Bush is proposing about this and what happens in our courtrooms shows his philosophy about everything. He doesn't believe in democracy. He hates the idea that his friends and his supporters are going to walk into a courtroom and be treated exactly the same way as a child or a family who have been the victims of fraud or abuse. The victim have been disabled for life, I mean, this could not be more discriminatory than it is.

John McCain: Matching funds for seniors citizens' prescription drugs

John McCain: Expand health insurance to 11 million uninsured children

Joni Ernst: Staunchly opposed to ObamaCare

Joni Ernst: Voted against Medicaid expansion in Iowa

Joni Ernst: FactCheck: False claim that ObamaCare cut Medicare benefits

Ernst's low point was "stubbornly pushing the claim that ObamaCare cut Medicare benefits, an argument repeatedly debunked by nonpartisan fact checkers, and her confusion on a question about current 'job-killing' regulations, where she cited cap-and-trade, which is not law," a pundit said.

Joni Ernst: ObamaCare is egregious overreach of federal government

Ernst: Strongly Disagree

Question topic: The Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) should be repealed by Congress.

Ernst: Strongly Agree. Affordable Care Act: A clearly egregious overreach of federal government.

Question topic: Briefly list political or legislative issues of most concern to you.

Ernst: Affordable Care Act- A clearly egregious overreach of federal government.

Joni Ernst: Medicare-for-All would bankrupt rural health care systems

Ernst: The Democrats' plan, which would eventually lead us to Medicare for all, would actually bankrupt about 52 of our rural health care systems. So I think that there are ways to address the issues. But certainly putting our rural constituents on the hook is not the way to do it. We are seeing OBGYN's leave the rural areas already because of low Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.

Greenfield: I don't support Medicare-for-all. But I do support strengthening and enhancing the Affordable Care Act, making sure that everyone has health care and in addition to that building in a public option which creates competition and brings down those prices. Senator Joni Ernst did the exact opposite. She voted multiple times to end the Affordable Care Act, devastating health care for so many Iowans who rely on coverage for pre-existing conditions, about 1.3 million Iowans.

Joni Ernst: Replace ACA but provide "backstop" for expensive cases

Ernst: One of the plans I supported was a bipartisan plan which would provide a government backstop for those that have the most expensive medical cases, those that do have pre-existing conditions. Making sure that the federal government is caring for those and providing equal access to health care products, making sure that they are affordable, that should be the federal government's role.

Greenfield: I believe health care is a right and we need to make sure that everyone has access to high quality and affordable health care. The way to do that is to strengthen and enhance the Affordable Care Act, build in a public option, creating competition, bringing down those prices, and saving taxpayers about $500 billion.

Joni Ernst: COVID: I wear a mask in public, but mandate is unenforceable

Kim Reynolds: ObamaCare is unaffordable, unworkable, and unsustainable

First, Congress and the new Administration must repeal ObamaCare, because it is unaffordable, unworkable, and unsustainable. We must then replace it with health care reform that is affordable for Iowans, empowers the consumer to have high quality health care, and provides states the flexibility they need to afford and sustain their Medicaid programs.

In 2017, Iowans purchasing an ObamaCare health plan saw their premiums increase 43%. Early reports indicate some premiums in 2018 are expected to more than double. Health care reform must use market-driven strategies to give consumers affordable health care choices year after year. Although ObamaCare improved access in the short term it threatens access in the long-term due to its faulty design causing unaffordable costs for patients.

Kim Reynolds: Individualized, patient-centered managed care for Medicaid

I continue to call on Congress to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. But we can't wait for Congress to fix it.

Almost two years ago, we modernized our Medicaid system to an individualized, patient-centered approach that was already in place in 39 other states. It was a change that needed to be made.

I still believe managed care is the right decision for Iowa, but it has become very clear that mistakes were made in how it was done. With our new team in place, we are continuing to work with our Managed Care-Organizations to ensure Iowans are getting the best possible outcomes. And we are reaching patients in new and innovative ways to individualize their care.

Kim Reynolds: Train all doctors to recognize mental health challenges

150,000 more Iowans have mental health coverage today and have access to more local and modern services. We've invested $2 billion in mental health services. And in 2016 we invested $4 million in a new psychiatric medical residency program to recruit and retain more psychiatrists.

But we must do more, and I know we can. I look forward to an exciting new initiative, where every new doctor will receive the training and skills to identify and treat a patient with a mental health challenge. I have included money in my budget for this innovative program. It will be the first-of-its-kind.

Kim Reynolds: Shift mental health funding from property tax to state

Kim Reynolds: Telehealth is a reality and will help underserved Iowans

Kim Reynolds: $30 million over two years to fund mental health reform

Kim Reynolds: Kept state "open for business" during pandemic

As we move into the next phase of managing the pandemic and consider President Trump's guidelines for "Opening Up America Again," we are applying our propensity for planning to reopen the segments of our economies that temporarily closed. Each of us has identified triggers for when regions of our states and sectors of our economies should reopen, based on metrics tailored to our unique circumstances. We are sharing expertise and best practices on how to safely reopen restaurants, churches, gyms and other businesses while continuing to slow the spread of infection.

Kimberly Graham: Advocates universal, single-payer government coverage

Marco Battaglia: Oppose ObamaCare; move to a freer market in medicine

A: Oppose. I want to move to a freer market in medicine. I think that we can do this while still providing a safety net for vulnerable Iowans and those Iowans that have fell through the cracks in state insurance markets.

Michael Franken: Improve ObamaCare; add Medicare public option

Mike knows the challenge associated with mental illness. Expanded treatment opportunities are desperately needed. Access and inpatient options need to be expanded to treat the chronic shortage of opportunities for this vital aspect of healthcare. Similarly, Mike considers dental care indispensable to quality of life. Therefore, it should be part of an expanded Affordable Care Act and not a mere luxury for those with high-end insurance plans.

Michael Franken: Seeks to pick up the banner of disability advocate

Michael Franken: Add essential vision, hearing, dental services to Medicare

Michael Franken: Let Medicare negotiate prescription drug prices

Michele Bachmann: I fought; when others ran, I fought

PAWLENTY: That's not the kinds of things she said when I was governor of the state of Minnesota. She says she led the effort against ObamaCare, we got ObamaCare. She led the effort against TARP, we got TARP. She said she's got a titanium spine. It's not her spine we're worried about, it's her record of results.

BACHMANN: Thank you so much. I was at the tip of the spear fighting against the implementation of ObamaCare in the US Congress. Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama ran Congress, but I gave them a run for their money. I fought when others ran. I fought. And I led against increasing the deficit.

Michele Bachmann: Government has no authority to force people to buy insurance

ROMNEY: Are you familiar with the Massachusetts constitution? I am. And the MA constitution allows states [to mandate insurance].

Q: [to Bachmann]: Does that make any difference whether mandatory health insurance is being imposed by a state or by the federal government?

BACHMANN: No, I don't believe that it does. I think that the government is without authority to compel a citize to purchase a product or a service against their will, because effectively when the federal government does that, what they're doing is they are saying to the individual, they are going to set the price of what that product is. If the federal government can force American citizens or if a state can force their citizens to purchase health insurance, there is nothing that the state cannot do. This is clearly an unconstitutional action, whether it's done at the federal level or whether it's the state level

Michele Bachmann: 2012 is our one shot to get rid of ObamaCare

GINGRICH: I fought against ObamaCare at every step of the way.

ROMNEY: If I'm President, we're going to get rid of ObamaCare and return the responsibility and care of health care to the people in the states.

BACHMANN: You'd have to go back to 1993 when Newt first advocated for the individual mandate in healthcare. And Gov. Romney sent his teamw to the White House to meet with Obama to teach them how to spread the RomneyCare model across the nation. We have one shot to get rid of ObamaCare, that's it. It is 2012. Do we honestly believe that two men who've just stood on this stage and defended RomneyCare when it was put in place in Massachusetts and the individual mandate when he proposed it in 1993, are they honestly going to get rid of it in 2012

Mike Huckabee: Give Americans Congress' healthcare, or give Congress ours

A: I'd like to side with the people of America who really are looking for a lot better action than they're getting out of their president or Congress. You know, if you want to know how to fix it, I've got a solution. Either give every American the same kind of health care that Congress has, or make Congress have the same kind of health care that every American has. They'll get it fixed. We really have an incredible problem because our system is upside-down. It focuses on intervention at the catastrophic level of disease rather than really focusing on prevention. So we've got a system that, no matter how much money we pour into it, we're not going to fix it, until we begin to address the fact that this country has put its focus not on wellness, not on health, but on sickness.

Mitt Romney: Insure 45 million uninsured with a free-market based system

Mitt Romney: ObamaCare's biggest difference: I believe in 10th Amendment

PAWLENTY: Obamacare was patterned after Mitt's plan. And for Mitt or anyone else to say that there aren't substantial similarities or they're not essentially the same plan, it just isn't credible.

ROMNEY: There are some similarities between what we did in Massachusetts and what President Obama did, but there are some big differences. And one is, I believe in the 10th Amendment of the Constitution. And that says that powers not specifically granted to the federal government are reserved by the states and the people. We put together a plan that was right for Massachusetts. The president took the power of the people & the states away from them and put in place a one-size-fits-all plan. It's bad law. It's bad constitutional law. It's bad medicine. And if I'm president, on my first day, I'll direct the secretary of HHS to grant a waiver from Obamacare to all 50 states

Mitt Romney: MA Constitution allows mandate; US Constitution does not

A: You're asking me, what do we think we should do about Obamacare? And the answer is, I think you have to repeal Obamacare, and I will, and I'll put in place a plan that allows states to craft their own programs to make those programs work.

Q: I'm asking you where you find that authority in the Constitution.

A: Are you familiar with the Massachusetts constitution? I am. And the Massachusetts constitution allows states, for instance, to say that our kids have to go to school. It has that power. We said, look, we're finding people that can afford health insurance, that are going to the hospital and getting the state to pay for them--people who are free riders. We said, you know what? We're going to insist that those people who can afford to pay for themselves do so. That was our conclusion

Mitt Romney: Return healthcare to states, under the 10th Amendment

ROMNEY: One, I didn't send a team to meet with Obama. I wish he'd have given me a call. I wish when he was putting together his health care plan, he'd have had the judgment to say, "Let me talk to a governor who understands this topic," and get on the phone. I'd have said, "Mr. President, you're going down a very, very bad path. Do not continue going down that path because what you're going to do is you're going to raise taxes. You're going to cut Medicare." The plan we put in place in Massachusetts deals with the 8% of our people who didn't have insurance. The 92% of people who did have insurance, nothing changes for them. If I'm President, we're going to get rid of ObamaCare and return, under our Constitution--the 10th Amendment--the responsibility and care of health care to the people in the states.

Mitt Romney: No FEDERAL individual mandate; but state mandate ok

ROMNEY: If the people of Massachusetts don't like our plan, they can get rid of it. Individuals under the 10th Amendment have the power to craft their own solutions. I'm absolutely adamantly opposed to ObamaCare. It's a 2,000-page bill that takes over health care. It is wrong for health care. It's unconstitutional.

PERRY: I read your first book and it said that your mandate in Massachusetts should be the model for the country. It came out of the reprint of the book. But, I'm just sayin', you were for individual mandates.

ROMNEY: You've raised that before, Rick. And you're simply wrong.

PERRY: It was true then. It's true now.

ROMNEY: Rick, I'll tell you what. $10,000 bet?

PERRY: I'm not in the betting business. I'll show you the book.

ROMNEY: I wrote the book. Chapter seven is called The Massachusetts Model. I have not said anything about our plan being a national model imposed on the nation.

Nate Boulton: Focus on vulnerable people rather than corporate profits

Newt Gingrich: HillaryCare mandate ok; ObamaCare mandate unconstitutional

GINGRICH: In 1993, in fighting HillaryCare, virtually every conservative saw the mandate as a less-dangerous future than what Hillary was trying to do. After HillaryCare disappeared it became more and more obvious that mandates have all sorts of problems built into them. People gradually tried to find other techniques. I frankly was floundering, trying to find a way to make sure that people who could afford it were paying their hospital bills while still leaving an out so libertarians to not buy insurance. And that's what we're wrestling with. It's now clear that the mandate, I think, is clearly unconstitutional. But, it started as a conservative effort to stop HillaryCare in the 1990s.

Orrin Hatch: Home health and nursing homes should be more affordable

Pat Murphy: Raise cigarette tax to expand healthcare to 40,000 children

Patty Judge: Look again at affordable health care

PJ: I'm in this race for one real reason and that's because Washington is not working. Things are not getting done that are important to the people of this country. And we need to immediately start working again to get our economy going strongly, to make certain that the wages that people are receiving are adequate. We need to look at issues around the cost of education. We need to look again at affordable health care. The list goes on and on.

Q: What committees would you like to serve on, if you're elected.

PJ: My first choice would be the Senate Ag committee. I also would like to be involved in HomelandI'm also a nurse by education and have been always interested in providing quality health care to the citizens of Iowa so those are also issues that would be important to me.

Pete Buttigieg: Individual mandate so no such thing as an uninsured American

BUTTIGIEG: Well, it's making sure that there is no such thing as an uninsured American. Look, the individual mandate was an important part of the ACA because the system doesn't work if there are free riders. What I'm offering is a choice. You don't have to be in my plan if there's another plan that you would rather keep. And there's no need to kick Americans off the plans that they want in order to deliver health care for all. And my plan is paid for. Everything I've put forward--from "Medicare for all who want it" to the historic investments we're going to make in infrastructure to dealing with climate change--is fully paid for.

Pete Buttigieg: My plan does not cost the most, but isn't small

WARREN: The problem is that plans like the mayor's and like the vice president's is that they are an improvement. But they're a small improvement. And that's why it is that they cost so much less, because by themselves, they're not going to be enough to cover prescriptions for 36 million people who can't afford to get them filled. We can ask those at the very top, the top 1 percent, to pay a little more. When we do that, we have enough money to provide health care for all our people.

Rich Leopold: Our handling of mental illness & medical coverage is abysmal

Rick Perry: ObamaCare is an abomination for this country

PERRY: [Romney] has been for the individual mandate. I'm stunned, Mitt, that you said you wished you could've talked to Obama and said "You're going down the wrong path," because that is exactly the path that you've taken in Massachusetts. [One] study said there've been over $8 billion of additional cost. I wish you could have had the conversation with the people of Massachusetts a long time before that phone call, because the fact of the matter is, you're for individual mandate. And you can talk about "I'm going to repeal ObamaCare." But the record is very clear. You were for individual mandates. And that is the problem. And the question is then, "Who can look Obama in the eye, and say, 'ObamaCare is an abomination for this country,'?" And I'm going to do that. And I can take that fight to him and win that fight.

Rick Santorum: If we let states mandate insurance, sterilization is ok too

PAUL: The federal government can't go in and prohibit the states from doing bad things. And I would consider that a very bad thing, but they do have that leeway under our Constitution.

SANTORUM: This is the 10th Amendment run amok. We have Ron Paul saying, oh, whatever the states want to do under the 10th Amendment's fine. So if the states want to pass polygamy, that's fine. If the states want to impose sterilization, that's fine. No, our country is based on moral laws. There are things the states can't do. Abraham Lincoln said the states do not have the right to do wrong. I respect the 10th Amendment, but we are a nation that has values. We are a nation that was built on a moral enterprise, and states don't have the right to tramp over those because of the 10th Amendment.

Rob Hogg: Supports the Affordable Care Act

Ron Paul: States CAN mandate insurance, but it's a bad idea

ROMNEY: Are you familiar with the Massachusetts constitution? I am. It allows states [to mandate insurance].

Q: [to Paul]: Does a state have a constitutional right to make someone buy insurance just because they're a resident?

PAUL: No, the federal government can't go in and prohibit the states from doing bad things. And I would consider that a very bad thing, but you don't send in a federal police force because they're doing it. So they do have that leeway under our Constitution. But we have drifted so far from any of our care being delivered by the marketplace. And once you get the government involved--both parties have done it --they've developed a medical care delivery system based on corporatism. The corporations are doing quite well, whether it's Obama or under the Republicans. The drug companies do well. The insurance companies do well. The patient and the doctors suffer.

Ron Paul: Government should not protect you from yourself

PAUL: No, essentially not, but they have to be a referee. If people are doing things that hurt other people, yes. But if you embark on instituting a society where government protects you from yourself, you're in big trouble, and that's what they're doing.

Q: What about mandates for adults?

PAUL: You talk about ObamaCare using force, but that's all government is, is force. I mean, do you have a choice about paying Medicare taxes? So there's not a whole of different: you're forced to buy insurance. That's one step further. But you have to stop with force. Once government uses force to mold behavior or mold the economy, they've overstepped the bounds and they've violated the whole concept of our revolution and our Constitution.

Roxanne Conlin: Reward quality of care, not quantity

Roxanne Conlin: Moral imperative to prevent 45,000 deaths from lack of care

We can pay for these important advances in coverage in several ways. For example, reversing Senator Grassley's ban on allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices for seniors will add hundreds of billions of dollars to that program. Another way in which we will be able to save on care is through the health and well being programs supported in the Reform Act.

Roxanne Conlin: Negotiate prescription drugs for Medicare like we do for VA

Grassley said there was a tradeoff. Medicare has access to a greater variety of drugs because it doesn't negotiate. "The CBO [Congressional Budget Office] says it won't save any money if you have the negotiations," he said.

Rudy Giuliani: $15,000 tax deduction for health savings accounts

A: The bill had two very unfortunate parts to it. One, it would reduce Medicaid Advantage, which is a very, very successful program that actually does bring about some form of a free-market solution. And second, it would have the really odd effect of moving children who presently have private insurance to becoming wards of the state, basically having them move in the direction toward socialized medicine. That would be a terrible thing to do. What we should do is increase the number of people who have private insurance. In order to do that, we should give them a major tax deduction, $15,000, let them have a health savings account as part of that. They'll have an incentive to own their own health insurance. That's the thing that's wrong with the market here. It is not really good to move this thing in terms of more government control of health care.

Sam Clovis: Repeal ObamaCare; it's not a government responsibility

Clovis: Strongly Disagree

Question topic: The Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) should be repealed by Congress.

Clovis: Strongly Agree

Sam Brownback: Market-based solution over socialized government-pay system

A: Well, that's why I voted against the bill. But it wasn't just that. The piece of it that I think you have to recognize is that you've got a fundamental decision to make here on health care, which is 16% of the economy, going north fast, probably headed to 20% of our total economy. Do you think the solution to providing more and better health care is (1) that we should have more government solutions involved, or (2) should there be more market-based solutions involved? And I think clearly the answer here is you need more market forces in health care. That's what we need to do. Instead, you've got the Democrats doing a step-by-step march toward a socialized government-pay system. And they're very happy to do it that way. But we can get better health care going this way. And we can hold the price of it down and not bust the federal treasury at the same time.

Sam Clovis: Repeal ObamaCare, the Unaffordable Care Act

True healthcare reform should be accomplished by examining market solutions and allowing those markets to work. The Congress of the United States should advance tort reform and repeal the McCarron-Ferguson Act, thus allowing individuals in any state to shop for health insurance from any provider. By doing just these two things, estimates are that healthcare costs would be cut by up to 50%. Today, we face premium increases at near triple digit levels with no end in sight.

The current healthcare legislation is already leading to rationing, reduced care availability and will ultimately lead to fewer healthcare professionals available to treat an ever-increasing population. This is not only bad for the nation, it is immoral. This law must be repealed.

Sam Clovis: Keep ObamaCare rule: kids can stay on parent's plan until 26

Clovis praised two senators, Lee and Cruz, who fueled the movement to use the shutdown as leverage to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as ObamaCare. Clovis said he'd keep the pieces that allow adult children to stay on a parent's policy until age 26, and the pieces related to high-risk and pre-existing conditions. But he said it's an immoral law because it adds $150 billion a year in national debt.

"I've read the bill, and I challenge anyone else in this building to say they've read the bill. And I've read every word of it," Clovis said.

Steve Forbes: Replace "gatekeepers" with health care vouchers

Ted Cruz: Support nuns' battle for religious liberty against ObamaCare

"Some might say, this is hard. This is really hard. The media tells us it can't be done. But you know each of us has seen miracles every day," Cruz said.

Cruz noted that a Catholic religious order, the Little Sisters of the Poor, has been battling with the Obama administration over mandates in the Affordable Care Act the sisters say would violate their religious liberties. "Here is a real good rule of thumb: If you are litigating against nuns, as the Obama administration is, you have probably done something wrong," Cruz said.

Terry Branstad: Lifestyle changes make people healthier & save state money

Terry Branstad: Mental Health Care Reform: secure vulnerable Iowans

Vision for mental health reform:
• No statewide system of care
• County investment in services is not consistent or equitable
• Disparity in access, service levels of care, & quality
• Essential crisis services exist in only a few counties
• Reliance on property tax
• Goals:
• Establish a statewide system of care that both secures outcomes for vulnerable Iowans and is accountable to the public
• Reasonable balance between access, affordability, quality, and appropriateness.

Terry Branstad: ObamaCare is unaffordable, unworkable, and unsustainable

First, Congress and the new Administration must repeal ObamaCare, because it is unaffordable, unworkable, and unsustainable. We must then replace it with health care reform that is affordable for Iowans, empowers the consumer to have high quality health care, and provides states the flexibility they need to afford and sustain their Medicaid programs.

In 2017, Iowans purchasing an ObamaCare health plan saw their premiums increase 43%. Early reports indicate some premiums in 2018 are expected to more than double. Health care reform must use market-driven strategies to give consumers affordable health care choices year after year. Although ObamaCare improved access in the short term it threatens access in the long-term due to its faulty design causing unaffordable costs for patients.

Terry Branstad: Transform mental health system to community-based model

As a result, we have created a new system where more Iowans have access to mental health services closer to home than ever before; more Iowans are covered with health insurance than ever before; and more than 80 new value-added services are now being offered under our modernized Medicaid program.

We've also replaced the old Medicaid system with a coordinated team of health-care professionals to ensure patients see the right provider at the right time. As a result of these reforms and innovation, we have improved the focus on health outcomes and saved the taxpayers $110 million.

Theresa Greenfield: Expand access to affordable health care

Theresa Greenfield: Strengthen ObamaCare; create public option

Theresa Greenfield: Medicaid expansion, but not Medicare-for-All

Ernst: The Democrats' plan, which would eventually lead us to Medicare-for-All, would actually bankrupt about 52 of our rural health care systems.

Greenfield: I don't support Medicare for all. But I do support strengthening and enhancing the Affordable Care Act, making sure that everyone has health care and in addition to that building in a public option which creates competition and brings down those prices. Senator Joni Ernst did the exact opposite. She voted multiple times to end the ACA, devastating health care for so many Iowans who rely on coverage for pre-existing conditions, about 1.3 million Iowans.

Theresa Greenfield: Health care is a right; build in a public option

Ernst: One of the plans I supported was a bipartisan plan which would provide a government backstop for those that have the most expensive medical cases, those that do have pre-existing conditions. Making sure that the federal government is caring for those and providing equal access to health care products, making sure that they are affordable, that should be the federal government's role.

Greenfield: I believe health care is a right and we need to make sure that everyone has access to high quality and affordable health care. The way to do that is to strengthen and enhance the Affordable Care Act, build in a public option, creating competition, bringing down those prices and making sure that Medicare can negotiate for those prescription drug prices saving seniors a whole bunch of money, putting some nickels back in their pocket, and saving taxpayers about $500 billion.

Theresa Greenfield: COVID: I do support a statewide mask mandate

Greenfield: When it comes to wearing a mask, I do support a statewide mask mandate. Iowa has some of the highest cases of infections at this point in time and of course even the White House Task Force wants Iowa to have a mask mandate. We need testing. We need contact tracing. We need PPE for everyone and emergency protection standards.

Theresa Greenfield: Expand ACA, include public option

Theresa Greenfield: Said she'd fight drug costs, but Big Pharma donated to her

Tim Pawlenty: We did healthcare the right way in Minnesota

PAWLENTY: To correct you, I have not questioned Rep. Bachmann's migraine headaches. I don't think that is an issue. Now as to Rep. Bachmann's record. Look, she has done wonderful things in her life, but it is an indisputable fact that in Congress her record of accomplishment and results is nonexistent. If you go to my record in Minnesota you will see government spending went from historic high to historic lows. We transformed the court in a conservative direction, we did health care reform the right way--no mandates individually, no government take-overs and more. That's the kind of record we're going to need to contrast and beat Barack Obama.

Tim Pawlenty: ObamneyCare: ObamaCare was patterned after RomneyCare

PAWLENTY: Obamacare was patterned after Mitt's plan in Massachusetts. And for Mitt or anyone else to say that there aren't substantial similarities or they're not essentially the same plan, it just isn't credible. So that's why I called it Obamneycare, and I think that's a fair label, and I'm happy to call it that again tonight.

ROMNEY: There are some similarities between what we did in Massachusetts and what Pres. Obama did, but there are some big differences. And one is, I believe in the 10th Amendment. And that says that powers not specifically granted to the federal government are reserved by the states and the people. The president took the power of the states away from them.

Tom Fiegen: Stop the scam of paying generic drug makers to NOT sell

Tom Steyer: Break corporate stranglehold to get public option

V.P. Joe BIDEN: The proposal I lay out limits drug cost. It allows Medicare to negotiate with drug companies for the price. It sets a system whereby you cannot raise the price of a drug beyond the cost of medical inflation.

STEYER: Look, we've had this conversation so many times. Everybody on this stage believes that affordable health care is a right for every single American. And it makes no sense and the government has to step in. I do agree with Vice President Biden that we should move and develop the Affordable Care Act with a public option. But the real question is this: This is not a new problem. Why do we keep having this conversation? We have a broken government. It has been bought by corporations that include the drug companies, the insurance companies, and the private hospitals. How do we actually break the corporate stranglehold on our government so that we can get any of these things passed?

Tom Steyer: Term limits will break stranglehold on low taxes for rich

Tom Tancredo: Womb-to-tomb health care is not federal responsibility

A: Let me suggest we think about something in the area of health care that perhaps is unique, different and scary to some people, but that is this: It's not the responsibility of the federal government to provide womb-to-tomb health care for America. And so, we constantly debate on exactly what way we want to push government control of this issue, but in every way we're doing it, it's unhealthy. It is unhealthy to have a government health-care plan in America. There are some things we can do, absolutely. The expansion of health savings accounts that increases individual responsibly. The allowing for people to actually take the reimportation of prescription drugs.

Q: I know you voted against the expansion of the children's health insurance this week.

A: You bet I did.

Tom Tancredo: FactCheck: Illegals use less medical care than citizens

Tommy Thompson: Convert illness & disease system to wellness & prevention

A: Neither one of them are right. The problem is, we've got a sickness, illness and disease society. We spend 90% of $2 trillion--that's 16% of the gross national product--on getting people well after they get sick. Less than 10% of the money keeping you out of the hospital, out of the nursing home. Does anybody in America think that's a smart idea? I think it's dumb. Let's go to wellness and prevention. Number two, let's start managing diseases in America. Let's make sure that individuals that are chronically ill and physically disabled are able to get the quality of health and therefore get the quality of life. They take up 66% of the cost. You could reduce that down to 50%.

Tommy Thompson: End breast cancer by the year 2015 for all women in America

A: My mother-in-law died of breast cancer. My wife has breast cancer. My young daughter has breast cancer. I don't think I was supportive enough, and that's why I'm vowing right now to end breast cancer by the year 2015 for all the women in America.

Kim Reynolds: Increase funding for health care apprenticeship program