Three Republicans vying for Louisiana’s open U.S. Senate seat say the Affordable Care Act is not working and the United States needs to start over when it comes to health care reform.
But they differ on the best solution to do that.
“Nobody knows how much the stuff costs. It’s the only product and service in America that I know of where nobody knows how much it costs,” said state Treasurer John Kennedy, adding that Americans spend about trillions of dollars per year on health care.
Kennedy and U.S. Reps. Charles Boustany and John Fleming took part in a political forum hosted today by the National Federation of Independent Business, in conjunction with the Louisiana Retailers Association and Louisiana Restaurant Association, in downtown Baton Rouge.
The candidates were invited to participate because they polled high among likely voters in a recent statewide poll conducted by Bernie Pinsonat, of the nonpartisan firm Southern Media and Opinion Research. The candidates are among a pool of 11 people who have filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission and are gunning for the seat of Sen. David Vitter, who is not running for re-election.
The business group’s decision to include a limited number of candidates irked New Orleans businesswoman Caroline Fayard.
Health care wasn’t the only topic on the menu. Two other questions dealt with federal regulations on businesses and whether they would vote for legislation that would allow Louisiana to collect taxes on Internet purchases.
While Kennedy called for the ACA to be replaced by a system with more choice, competition and price transparency and less fraud, Boustany, a physician, touted the House passage last week of a bill he authored to allow small businesses to create health reimbursement accounts.
Such accounts ran afoul of the ACA, and businesses were penalized $36,500 per employee per year, Boustany said. His bill is headed to the U.S. Senate.
“That would help small businesses struggling with health care,” said Boustany, adding Louisiana needs a senator who knows how to cut costs in health care.
There needs to be information, choice and control to reform the ACA, Boustany added. Transparency in regards to pricing information is critical, and insurance companies should not be in charge of health care.
“I shouldn’t know more about the beer I’m buying at the supermarket than the doctor that I’m choosing. This is unacceptable,” he said.
Fleming, who’s a physician and businessman, said transparency isn’t enough. Power needs to returned to providers to negotiate the price of health care.
“This needs to be a real marketplace,” said Fleming, a co-author of a health care reform act, which expands health saving accounts so they can be inherited.
—Alexandria Burris
