16th District candidates split over health care reform

Candidates for the 16th Congressional District, which covers about a third of McHenry County, share common ground on issues from the need for high speed rail and immigration reform to government incentives to keep jobs in the United States.

But the passage earlier this year of the national health care reform act sends the candidates fleeing to their respective sides of the aisle.

During an interview Monday with members of the Daily Herald's editorial board incumbent Don Manzullo, a Republican from Egan, derided the health care reform as "Obamacare," calling it "frightening."

Manzullo, who was first elected to the office in 1992, said, among other issues, the reform is costing more than was anticipated.

"This thing has not worked, it is frightening," he said, adding that the cost of premiums is on the rise and many doctors are leaving the profession.

"The Congressional Budget Office has said there is nothing in the plan to bend the curve of health care down; it is going to cost more for health care," he said.

Meanwhile, his Democratic opponent, Freeport Mayor George Gaulrapp, emphasized what he sees as the positives of the reform that would give health care to about 45 million Americans without it.

Gaulrapp said the government would have three years to fix problems within the Affordable Care Act, which takes affect Jan. 1, 2014. He said the reform would help reduce health care costs by making coverage affordable to more people, including those who were denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition.

"Some of the expenses that we see over and over again is people using the emergency room as their primary health care provider," Gaulrapp said. "They use it as primary health care. There is an alarming rate of teen pregnancies. They don't receive prenatal or post natal care and we have - at least in Stephenson County - low birth weights and children are going to have different health care issues in the future. So we extend those expenses up and up and up without a way to fix these things."

Green Party candidate Terry Campbell did not attend the interview and did not respond to invitations to participate.