Health care a hot topic at DFL congressional forum

Jan. 25--Six Democrats vying for the 1st Congressional District seat faced off Wednesday night for the first time before a standing-room-only crowd in Rochester.

For an hour and a half, the candidates fielded questions from the audience at the DFL-sponsored debate on a wide range of topics including immigration, gun control and trade. But health care proved to be one of the hottest topics of the night.

"I've heard about health care more than any other issue on the campaign trail because our health is our future," candidate Dan Feehan told the audience gathered at the Rochester Public Library.

It's also the issue where some of the biggest differences among the candidates emerged, with some calling for single-payer health care and others favoring a more measured approach to reaching universal health care coverage.

Participating in Wednesday night's debate were Feehan -- an Iraq War veteran living in North Mankato, former Owatonna Sen. Vicki Jensen, Albert Lea businessman Colin Minehart, retired Winona professor Bob Ries, Mankato attorney Joe Sullivan and Rochester attorney Rich Wright. A seventh candidate -- Johnny Akzam -- was not allowed to participate because he has said he will forgo the DFL endorsement process and run in the August primary.

Repeatedly during the evening, Wright emphasized his support for moving to a single-payer system.

"Other countries do this and they do it at half the cost of what we're paying for health care now and they have better outcomes. So we know we can do this," he said.

To accomplish that, he said it makes sense to expand Medicare for all. Wright added it's also critical to make sure federal reimbursement rates are high enough to ensure health care providers can continue to operate. He also backs expanding access to vision, dental and mental health coverage.

Minehart agrees that a single-payer system is the solution.

"We have to protect our families. We have to protect our future. We have to move to some sort of single-payer system," he said.

He supports the idea of allowing people to buy in to Medicare. He also said there needs to be more transparency when it comes to health care costs.

Ries also favors moving to a single-payer system and expanding Medicare.

"We're the only industrialized nation in the world that doesn't have health care. It's very simple to do it if we have the will and we'll devote the dollars," he said.

The other candidates stopped short of calling for a single-payer system. Instead, they emphasized options for expanding health care coverage.

Jensen, who owns her own insurance business, said she doesn't support moving to single-payer health care right away. Instead, she favors taking steps to increase access. That means expanding Medicare to those age 55 and older and giving people the option to buy into a public plan.

"Let's start there because I think we need to do this in steps because we can get some things in place and know how it will work. If it doesn't work with providers in the rural health care systems that are out there, that's not good either," Jensen said.

Sullivan said he comes from a family of health care providers and has heard too many stories of people dying in the ER because they did not receive basic care for things as routine as a tooth infection. He backs allowing people to buy into the Medicare system.

"I start with the principle that health care is a right," he said.

Feehan said he has heard from people concerned about the high cost of health insurance premiums and the struggle to get loved ones seen by specialists. He supports making sure everyone has access to quality, affordable health care. He said he is willing to consider anything that helps achieve that -- including lowering the age of Medicare and establishing a public health insurance option.

He added, "I am for universal health care, and if that is our principle, there are many different ways we can get there."

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