ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, October 27, 1996 TAG: 9610290001
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
D - Democrat
R - Republican
L - Libertarian
VIP - Virginia Independent Party/Reform Party
How do you see the problem? What's causing it?
FOR U.S. SENATE
Mark Warner (D)
``Too many Virginians lack health insurance because they can't afford insurance and do not qualify for Medicaid. People without insurance run the risk of financial ruin if they or someone in their family gets sick or suffers an injury. Meanwhile, costs skyrocket.''
John Warner (R)
``Approximately 35 million Americans are not covered by health insurance either because of its cost, because of preexisting conditions, or because they are between jobs. In addition, the Medicare program is on the brink of bankruptcy.''
FOR 5TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Virgil Goode (D)
``Medicare [is an] American success story. Before Medicare, 50 percent of seniors went without health insurance. Today, 97 percent to 99 percent have it. The problem is that some have forgotten what it was like before Medicare and are trying to cut it drastically.''
George Landrith (R)
``Clinton's own board of trustees says that Medicare will be bankrupt in 2002. We must preserve and strengthen Medicare and Social Security so that seniors are no longer kicked about like a political football every two years.''
Tex Wood (VIP)
``While health care isn't a fundamental right, it is a fundamental necessity, like food. If some insurance system were denying access to food to as many people as are without adequate health care, we'd squash that system, particularly if members of it were getting rich.''
FOR 6TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Bob Goodlatte (R)
``Just about every American family worries about health care in some way - needed treatments for their children that are not covered by insurance, paying monthly premiums that always seem to go up, losing health care coverage if a job is lost, being trapped in a job because of pre-existing health problems that would not be covered by health insurance at a new job, and deductibles that are too high. Congress took an important step on August 2 by passing common sense health care reform that lets Americans change jobs without losing health insurance.''
Jeff Grey (D)
``In this country we have over 40 million working Americans that do not have health insurance.''
Jay Rutledge (L)
``New technology should lower costs, but the trend in health care is toward ever more excessive costs. The health care industry is better understood as a politically regulated bureaucracy. Government controls 51 percent of health care's dollars and all of its delivery.''
FOR 9TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Rick Boucher (D)
``More than 40 million Americans do not have health insurance, a number which is increasing daily. This large uninsured population results from ever escalating health care costs, which have priced private health insurance beyond the ability of many families to afford.''
Patrick Muldoon (R)
``Americans enjoy the greatest health care in the world. But it can be better and more affordable. As usual, the government has proven far less successful at controlling costs than the private sector and fraud and waste abound in our Social Security and Medicare programs.''
Tom Roberts (VIP)
``The problem is that Congress over the past 14 years has made many temporary fixes toward Social Security and Medicare which have had the effect of making them unstable and unworkable pyramid schemes.''
What is its primary effect? What other things does it affect?
FOR U.S. SENATE
Mark Warner (D)
``People with health insurance have been locked into their jobs because they fear losing their insurance if they switch jobs. Small businesses face tremendous financial pressure in trying to insure their employees.'' Treating the uninsured drives up cost for all.
John Warner (R)
``It is linked to health care costs that were rising faster than the rate of inflation, the economic turmoil brought about by corporate downsizing and other changes in the economy, and abuse and waste in both the health delivery system and in various cost reimbursement programs.''
FOR 5TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Virgil Goode (D)
``Cutting Medicare as severely as proposed by some in Congress would have a devastating effect on our senior citizens and on our hospitals in the 5th District.''
George Landrith (R)
``Scare tactics and cynical politics that drive politicians to sit and do nothing about strengthening and preserving Medicare and Social Security make seniors pawns in a very ugly game of political chess.''
Tex Wood (VIP)
``Medicare should be maintained intact. Our people's health is taking a back seat to our supporting a 'global economy,' tax breaks for an extremely wealthy elite, and the lifestyles of the rich and famous.''
FOR 6TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Bob Goodlatte (R)
Jeff Grey (D)
``When I talk to small business owners, this is one of their biggest concerns. Our nation's elderly are very concerned about cuts in Medicare and Social Security. These are cuts they cannot afford.''
Jay Rutledge (L)
``Political regulation of medical care has restricted supply and controlled service to protect incomes. Political regulation has suppressed lower-cost, alternative methods of medical care delivery and misdirected funds to the top of the medical political pyramid.''
FOR 9TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Rick Boucher (D)
``The cost of providing care for the uninsured is 'shifted' to the bills of people who have health insurance and to government funded programs including Medicare and Medicaid. The presence of a large uninsured population drives up the cost of health care for everyone else.''
Patrick Muldoon (R)
``Impending bankruptcy in the Medicare system threatens the health care security of our nation's seniors and the availability of benefits for our children and grandchildren.''
Tom Roberts (VIP)
``The effect of the temporary fixes is that every few years it has to be patched up (and with much congressional self congratulations) and is worse with time. The collateral effects is a general mistrust of the system and our government.''
How does this affect you personally?
FOR U.S. SENATE
Mark Warner (D)
``As a businessman, I've learned first hand about the rising costs of health care and health insurance. And through the Virginia Health Care Foundation, which I helped create, I've spent a great deal of time working on providing health care services to uninsured Virginians.''
John Warner (R)
``In her last years of life, my mother required intensive medical care, and ultimately died in a nursing facility. A person of modest economic means, she depleted her savings, relied on health insurance and Medicare, and the support of her children to pay for her medical care.''
FOR 5TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Virgil Goode (D)
``My mother is 86 years old and has been in poor health. I know the security and sense of independence that she and other seniors feel because of being able to depend on Medicare. That's not something I'd threaten for any of our seniors.''
George Landrith (R)
``Two years ago, my grandmother lost her long battle with cancer. At least my family was secure in the knowledge that she had proper medical care. I want everyone to know that their grandmother will also have the medical care needed.''
Tex Wood (VIP)
``I am personally outraged by the situation and have and am working to fix it.''
FOR 6TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Bob Goodlatte (R)
Did not address.
Jeff Grey (D)
Did not address.
Jay Rutledge (L)
``My views are not politically correct. Political regulation of medical care is leading to an enforcement role for doctors. Will the politically incorrect receive sympathetic medical care tomorrow if the guidelines issued by government authorities suggest otherwise?''
FOR 9TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Rick Boucher (D)
Seventeen percent of Americans don't have health insurance; in 9th District, it's 25 percent. ``Consequently, one of my priorities is to create a circumstance where private health insurance is less costly and therefore more available to a wider range of Southwest Virginians.''
Patrick Muldoon (R)
``I, like many Americans, worry about the health of those close to me and how to pay for health care. This is a concern for almost every household throughout Southwest Virginia.''
Tom Roberts (VIP)
``This affects me because I was born too late (tail end of the baby boom) to ever have a hope that there will be any Social Security benefits for me but will work the prime of employment years to pay into it.''
What actions should be taken?
FOR U.S. SENATE
Mark Warner (D)
``Top-down, big-government programs are not the best solution. The Virgina Health Care Foundation has had success with community-based public-private partnerships. While the Health Care Foundation won't solve the problem entirely I believe it is a good approach.''
John Warner (R)
``I will work to enact a 100 percent tax deduction for the health insurance expenses of the self-employed. With respect to improving access to coverage, I will pursue reforms such as allowing individuals and families to enroll in state Medicaid programs on a means tested sliding scale.''
FOR 5TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Virgil Goode (D)
``We must preserve and protect Medicare and Social Security. Keeping these two important initiatives solvent and balancing the budget doesn't require the kinds of severe surgery proposed by some in the Congress.''
George Landrith (R)
For Medicare, ``(1) allow seniors to keep a percentage of any savings they find in their bill; (2) increase benefits in line with inflation and the number of participants; (3) eliminate fraud, waste and abuse.''
Tex Wood (VIP)
``Increase funds available to support health care by eliminating special interest feeding troughs; creating jobs, thereby increasing the tax base; and widely publishing salaries of the CEOs of health insurance companies, which do not treat even a hangnail.''
FOR 6TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Bob Goodlatte (R)
Under a new law, ``a person moving from one job to another cannot be kept off the health care plan at the new employer because of a pre-existing medical condition. This includes pre-existing conditions for children.''
Jeff Grey (D)
``I support Small Business Health Plan Purchasing Pools to help small business owners cover themselves and their employees. This will lower the cost for everyone. Social Security and Medicare were started and 'Trust Funds' and should remain that way.''
Jay Rutledge (L)
``The political control of medical practice must be ended along with the control and influence exerted by those dispensing federal funds. Voters must choose between having their own personal physician and Medicare. They cannot have both for long.''
FOR 9TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Rick Boucher (D)
``Next year, we should assure that voluntary health insurance purchasing alliances are available in every state so that individuals who wish to do so may purchase health insurance as part of a larger group at lower rates.''
Patrick Muldoon (R)
``Medicare is going bankrupt and must be saved. I support providing more health care plan choices for seniors, rewarding seniors for reporting Medicare fraud and abuse, maintaining the current premium rate and mandating that every penny saved will stay in Medicare.''
Tom Roberts (VIP)
``The rate of increasing benefit payouts should be limited to the rate of increasing revenues. Any system that allows for more to go out than comes in will eventually go bankrupt.''
What's standing in the way of these actions?
FOR U.S. SENATE
Mark Warner (D)
``Partisan rancor. Congress took months to pass the Kennedy-Kassebaum bill even though almost everyone supported the approach. Medical Savings Accounts became a political football and held up passage of the bill.''
John Warner (R)
``We are making progress on the issue of insurance portability. However, on the issue of Medicare, special interests which see advantage in opposing change or promoting their objectives are the biggest obstacles.''
FOR 5TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Virgil Goode (D)
``The intransigence of those who sought to cut Medicare severely stands in the way of preserving and protecting the system.''
George Landrith (R)
``Cynical politicians would rather make political hay and engage in ugly scare tactics than actually working to solve problems. Professional politicians are more concerned with the next election than they are with finding solutions.''
Tex Wood (VIP)
``Standing between many Americans and health care are the lobbyists paid by those concerns that make money as gatekeepers between us and health care. Doctors and nurses certainly aren't the culprits here.''
FOR 6TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Bob Goodlatte (R)
Did not address.
Jeff Grey (D)
``I will vote against proposals to include these programs in the general budget so that they may regain their solvency. I will strongly oppose any attempts to cut Medicare and Social Security benefits.''
Jay Rutledge (L)
``The self-interest of portions of the medical care industry and their political allies oppose de-politicizing medical care. Other opponents are motivated by a base desire to foist their individual responsibility to take care of their aging parents onto the public.''
FOR 9TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Rick Boucher (D)
``I do not see significant barriers to the enactment of these reforms. Our process of enacting incremental health care improvement, as a broad public consensus develops, is a prudent process which will over time produce the desired result.''
Patrick Muldoon (R)
``Every election year my opponent tries to scare seniors into thinking Republicans want to cut Medicare. This is irresponsible leadership. The future of Medicare is in jeopardy while our lawmakers just want to play politics.''
Tom Roberts (VIP)
``Special interest organizations that have not been wise enough to look at the long-term consequences of short-term gain over long-term stability.''
What can a member of Congress do?
FOR U.S. SENATE
Mark Warner (D)
``A senator can support innovative approaches like the Health Care Foundation. A senator can also work with members of both patties and not simply oppose an idea because it was suggested by a Democrat or a Republican.''
John Warner (R)
``A senator can give voice to the sentiments of his or her constituency by supporting and advocating the policies they support. A senator must be willing to cast his or her votes for sound market-based health care policies and for responsible reform of the Medicare system.''
FOR 5TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Virgil Goode (D)
``A member of Congress can and must stand up to fight for Medicare.''
George Landrith (R)
``A member of Congress can work for and vote for reform that strengthens Medicare and preserves Social Security. Rather than pursuing partisan political goals, elected leaders must work to solve problems and not worry much about who gets the credit.''
Tex Wood (VIP)
``Congress should lower the hurdle between most Americans and adequate health care by establishing a single-payer health program handled by private insurance companies awarded competitive contracts.''
FOR 6TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Bob Goodlatte (R)
``The bipartisan health care reform we passed makes health insurance more affordable and accessible for low- and middle-income families. Self-employed individuals are allowed to deduct 80 percent of their health insurance bills and Medical Savings Accounts are introduced.''
Jeff Grey (D)
``Congress must take responsibility to address the forty million American workers that are not covered by health insurance and deliver a solution. They must maintain the solvency of Social Security and Medicare without cutting benefits to our seniors.''
Jay Rutledge (L)
``A Libertarian elected to Congress will be national news. The public statement made by Virginia's 6th District in electing a Libertarian can lead the nation to restore freedom to the medical care marketplace.''
FOR 9TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Rick Boucher (D)
``I take the opportunity dozens of times each year to discuss these concerns at town meetings. I find that as the public understands the complexity of the problems,'' that our incremental approach to achieving universal private health insurance availability is broadly supported.''
Patrick Muldoon (R)
``Without reform, the Medicare trust fund may be bankrupt in as little as five years. It is irresponsible for our Washington lawmakers to ignore this problem for the sake of election-year politics.''
Tom Roberts (VIP)
``Congress can do the right thing by explaining in detail the next plan to fix Social Security and Medicare to the nation. Then keep the plans dynamic enough so that if it does not work exactly right, it can be adjusted to be kept sound.''
What can residents do?
FOR U.S. SENATE
Mark Warner (D)
``They can make use of preventive care. For example, parents need to make sure that their children receive proper immunizations. They can also work on behalf of elected officials who support innovative approaches and avoid partisanship.''
John Warner (R)
``Citizens must continue to be involved and make their views heard. Virginians should use the upcoming election to send a strong message that they don't want political gamesmanship standing in the way of responsible Medicare reform.''
FOR 5TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Virgil Goode (D)
``Citizens should voice their concerns loudly and clearly if those who seek to cut Medicare seek once again to shut down the government when they don't get their way.''
George Landrith (R)
``Citizens must elect leaders who are willing to look beyond the next election.''
Tex Wood (VIP)
``Citizens can put Wood in Congress. Handling such problems is what I'm hired to do.''
FOR 6TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Bob Goodlatte (R)
Did not address.
Jeff Grey (D)
``The people must take responsibility to report waste, fraud and abuse to their representative and hold them accountable for results.''
Jay Rutledge (L)
``Citizens must relinquish dependency relationships with medical authority. Citizens must exercise their inalienable rights to self-diagnose, self-prescribe, and self-treat; and insist that care providers supply full disclosure of price, choice, and value.''
FOR 9TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Rick Boucher (D)
``Citizens should become informed about the various proposals for health insurance reform pending in the Congress and communicate their views on a frequent basis to elected officials.''
Patrick Muldoon (R)
``If citizens want changes in health care, they must let their voices be heard by participating in the election process. I urge everyone in Southwest Virginia to register, go to the polls November 5 and elect the candidate who best represents the values of Southwest Virginia.''
Tom Roberts (VIP)
``Citizens can and should look back on the history of Social Security and Medicare manipulation over the past 14 years by our Congress, see what has not worked, and take part in trying to solve these problems for our common future.''
Other than government, what other public institutions should be involved and in what way?
FOR U.S. SENATE
Mark Warner (D)
``Nonprofit groups, private health care providers and insurance companies should also be involved. At the Virginia Health Care Foundation, we receive $6 in health care services for every dollar invested by the state. That's a return even Wall Street would love.''
John Warner (R)
``Several private-public partnerships and private-sector initiatives like the free clinics in Roanoke and New River help fill the gap where other benefit programs do not adequately cover. Insurance pools for small employers'' also help.
FOR 5TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Virgil Goode (D)
``All of us in our public Institutions need to come together to help protect Medicare for older Americans.''
George Landrith (R)
``Home care often provides a higher quality of life and keeps the family together and at the same time saves money. Additionally, Hospice care can provide high quality care and control costs. We should build in flexibility to any health care reform.''
Tex Wood (VIP)
``State medical boards and state banking commissions have the expertise to offer guidance with a minimal direct self-interest.''
FOR 6TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Bob Goodlatte (R)
Did not address.
Jeff Grey (D)
Did not address.
Jay Rutledge (L)
``Voluntary social organizations should distribute self-help information on medical treatment outcomes, drugs physicians, etc. They should start group plans to contract for medical care service directly with providers as an alternative to insurance.''
FOR 9TH DISTRICT, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Rick Boucher (D)
``The success of our effort will depend upon involvement in the public debate of health care beneficiaries and health care providers.''
Patrick Muldoon (R)
``My parents volunteer for the New River Valley Hospice. Community groups like Hospice provide valuable in-home services to patients while helping to keep health care costs down.''
Tom Roberts (VIP)
``Too much has been said in the news media about people's feelings and impressions to political pontificating rather than the facts. The news media needs to provide the public with more information and less commentary.''
LENGTH: Long : 474 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 11 headshots. KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESS