Doug Bennett: Candidate Profile

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Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioQA Bio City: DeerfieldWebsite: www.il10.orgTwitter: DougRBennettFacebook: @DougBennettForCongressOffice sought: 10th District U.S. Representative Age: 54Family: My wife Jennie and I have 3 children, Allison, Thomas, and Elizabeth.Occupation: Computer ConsultantEducation: BS Applied Mathematics, Northwestern University, 1985Civic involvement: West Deerfield Township Republican Organization Vice Chairman, Lake County Committeeman,local Cub Scout volunteer.Elected offices held: Candidate did not respond.Questions Answers What do you think is the government's responsibility in assuring that citizens have health care? To what extent does the Affordable Care Act address this responsibility? What, if any, changes are needed in the act.Healthcare The US Federal government currently guarantees that all hospitals that accept Medicare provide appropriate medical screening. Participating hospitals may not transfer or discharge patients needing emergency treatment except with the informed consent or stabilization of the patient or when their condition requires transfer to a hospital better equipped to administer the treatment. (EMTALA) This means that everyone in the United States is guaranteed at least emergency care and has been since the mid-1980s. This has never been the center point of the debate about the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Health Insurance The Affordable Care Act did not address having health care, the ACA addressed health insurance reform. The ACA was designed to extend coverage (often through Medicaid) and standardize health insurance plans. The ACA tried some cost control mechanisms, but the real intent was to drive up insurance coverage, which also drove up health care demand which in turn has driven up price. The marketplaces envisioned by the ACA are collapsing. Adverse selection caused many insurers to suffer major losses in the marketplaces, and those insurers are withdrawing from the individual marketplaces. For individuals, premiums and deductables have risen dramatically, choices have dwindled to those insurers that haven't given up. There seems to be no end in sight. The ACA is inherently broken, and can not be modified into a workable law. I support building a replacement for the ACA the underlying economic issues that have crippled it.What immigration policies do you support? Where, if at all, do you see room for compromise to produce an effective policy on immigration? What, if any, responsibility does the government have toward immigrants referred to as Dreamers who were brought to the United States illegally as children and are now adults? How will these policies affect your district?Our immigration debate centers now around illegal immigration, though there is also widespread understanding that some of our legal immigration policies are also broken (particularly the H1-B program) where people have waited over a decade for their responses. The main immigration points that need to be addressed about illegal immigration are a) serious (post 9/11) enforcement of US borders to know who is entering the country, b) policies to prevent low (sub-minimum) wage workers from driving down wages for US citizens, c) providing benefits primarily people legally residing in the country d) rapid deportation of known felons, with prison for felons re-entering the US. I do see that there can be room for comprise on an effective policy of immigration, but it is hard to support any policy that allows people who are here illegally to get through the immigration faster than those who have worked within the law. Any deal that does not address those major topics or encourages legal immigrants to become illegal ones is not feasible. I do believe that a deal can be reached, but currently both parties are more interested in winning today's news cycle than moving forward. We have to change that mindset.What military or diplomatic roles should the United States play to promote peace and stability in the Mideast? Under what circumstances should we have military forces actively operating?The United States should always be concerned about international stability, especially in the Middle East. The US has a vested interested in preventing both the spread of Islamic extremism and stopping nuclear proliferation. While we have used our military forces in the region in the past, and will do so again if the need truly arises, I feel that we should work where possible through economic sanctions, and in conjunction with our allies. I also believe that we should not make deals just for the sake of saying we have one, which I think we did with the Iran nuclear deal. We gave away too much leverage in that deal and didn't receive back as rigorous a sanctions regime as we might have. The problem a lot of the leverage is gone, so there is no way to go back to the beginning on that. We need to support our allies in the region, particularly Israel. The President's anti-ISIS policy in this regard seems to be working, and has not lead a serious commitment of US troops in harms way. I commend him for that.What should the United States be doing to reduce the threat of potential nuclear conflict from North Korea?North Korea is another region that requires the United States to work within an internation framework. The fact that North Korea borders on China means that we need to work not only with our allies in the region, but also with a less than friendly Chinese government. The Chinese have no interested in destabilizing events on their border, and they have a vested interested in working with the US to find a solution that reduces any potential nuclear conflict. I support working with the regional powers to find a way to reduce the danger from the Kim Jung Un government.How would you describe the effectiveness of Congress today? If you think Congress needs to be more effective, what would you do to promote that?I don't feel that the Congress is currently very effective. The single issue focus prevents broader collaborative efforts and the lack of trust between the parties hampers every negoiation. In order to be more effective, Congress needs to understand that the best way to be elected/re-elected is to accomplish things for your constituents. I think Members of Congress need to do a better job of looking for areas to collaborate and work together to get things done.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?I think that the 10th district, home to a very educated electorate, is very interested in looking at ways to bring the costs of high education under control. My three thoughts on this are to: a) remove the government from the lending business and return it to its regulatory function. b) disentangle the universities from distributing need based aid, and preventing them from collecting personal financial information as is currently done on the FASA. The government would deliver its need based aid through the tax code directly to students or parents. c) Require colleges to have at least some financial stake in providing a solid foundation that would enable students pay for the cost of the education in the future. We also need to support the Trump administration's continued progress toward regulatory reform.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Winston Churchill is the leader who most inspires me, but I do not see his like on the world's stage today.What is the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?I learned about honor and honesty from my parents. They always were fair and aboveboard. They said what they meant, and did what they said.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?Nothing, we all are the sum of our experiences, to change one thing would be to change everything and I have many blessings.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?Mathematics, it gave me the tools to better see the consequences of actions taken. Seeing connections in the world around me has been very valuable.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Commitment and hard work are often more important than knowledge, because dedicated people can learn what they need.