Hultgren, Walz differ over health care in 14th District

In nearly six years representing the 14th Congressional District, Randy Hultgren has seen constituents protest both because he hasn't supported the Affordable Care Act enough and because he hasn't abolished it. Like Hultgren, the Democrat vying to replace him, Jim Walz, would only please one side on the issue.

Republican Hultgren, of Plano, has voted dozens of times to repeal, replace or defund the Affordable Care Act, which he criticizes for high premiums and deductibles, among other things.

He has introduced the State Care Options Act to make it easier for states to opt out of the Affordable Care Act if they develop their own insurance marketplaces.

However, Hultgren applauds the Affordable Care Act for helping people get coverage who were previously excluded and for allowing young people to remain on their parents' insurance until age 26.

Walz, a Warren Township High School District 121 board member from Gurnee, said the Affordable Care Act does not go far enough. Walz favors universal health care in the form of what U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders described as Medicare for All.

Walz said major steps toward universal health care include negotiating prices on behalf of Medicare and importing prescription drugs from other countries to pare down costs.

"We need to put more money in peoples' pockets," Walz said. "That's what will get the economy churning. A way to do that is to cut the cost of health care."

Walz embraces the health care plan Sanders proposed during his campaign to become the Democratic nominee. That plan would see employers no longer pay toward insurance premiums. Instead, they'd pay a 6.2 percent payroll tax for all employees to help fund the public insurance plan. That cost could get passed down to their employees.