Graham favors ‘incremental’ health care reform

Aug. 31--PANAMA CITY -- The sweeping reforms of the Affordable Care Act, widely referred to as Obamacare, have been a mixed bag for people in the Florida Panhandle, congressional candidate Gwen Graham said Thursday in an interview on the controversial law.

Obamacare has been an issue in the closely watched race to represent Florida's2nd District. Incumbent Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Panama City, stood with local doctors last month to decry the law as one that is hurting patients and doctors. They said Graham's position on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) seemed to change with the prevailing winds, a charge Graham denied.

"Since the beginning of this race I've taken the consistent position that we should've had an incremental approach to reforming health care," she said.

There have been positives, she said. The law now prevents insurance companies from refusing coverage for pre-existing conditions, and it allows college-age dependants to remain covered by their parents' health insurance. It prohibits insurers from charging women more for policies and increases access to preventive care.

But the law also leaves much to be desired, Graham said. She said a recent visit to Campbellton-Graceville Hospital impressed on her the burden the law imposes on rural health care facilities with a mandate that medical records be kept electronically.

The hospital spent millions to upgrade its records system, she said, "which is ridiculous." Congress spent too much time infighting and didn't make enough effort with the details in the law, Graham said.

"We needed to have a Congress that would have fixed that so that our rural hospitals are not at a disadvantage," Graham said.

Southerland and Graham actually overlap on some of these issues. For instance, Graham said she supported the Keep Your Health Plan Act, which Republicans put forward after people actually lost their health care coverage in the trouble-stricken rollout of the law, despite President Barack Obama's promise that "you can keep it."

Graham is opposed to the cuts in the law to Medicare Advantage, which has caused premium increases for policy holders.

The ACA also includes a Medical Device Tax, which has been criticized on both sides of the aisle.

"That's another area of the law that I would repeal," Graham said.

Southerland has voted over and over to repeal the law, so why doesn't Graham support repealing the ACA?

"I don't really think there's much difference" between repealing the law and the fixes she supports, Graham said. "That's what Congress has normally done historically -- fix laws."

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