NC Congressional Candidates Answer Questions on Health Policy: Districts 5 - 9

Our reporters spent several weeks calling and emailing all of NC’s Congressional candidates to ask the same three questions on health policy. We asked about the Affordable Care Act, women’s health issues and Medicare.

Our goal was to talk to candidates and get their stated thoughts on issues, not just reprint canned answers about these important issues from their websites or press handlers, so if we could not speak to the candidate, we did not print their response.

Their answers are here.

By Saja Hindi, Rose Hoban, Ben McNeeley, Brenda Porter-Rockwell

District 5

Virginia Foxx (R – incumbent) http://virginiafoxx.com/

Congresswoman Foxx’s campaign did not respond to multiple emails and calls requesting an interview.

Elizabeth Motsinger (D) http://www.nc5th.us/

Your stance on the Affordable Care Act. If part of the answer is to “repeal and replace” please be specific about what you would replace it with.

I support the intention behind the Affordable Care Act to include more Americans . I’ve been a physician’s assistant and have been practicing for 20 years. I’ve never met a patient who didn’t need or deserve basic health care. We need to move forward with what we have, and if we need to adjust, then adjust it. Let’s get a move on with getting health care for Americans. There are not quick, simplistic answers to complex problems. I want to get in there and look at the system as a whole, not as a system that is patchwork.

Your stance on women’s health issues, including abortion and birth control.

Women should be free to make their own private, personal choices.

Your stance on how to keep Medicare solvent into the future.

Medicare is going to benefit from Americans having health care before 65 years old, especially preventative care, because now they hit the system and have such problems that need extensive treatment, and that’s expensive. We also need evidence-based research to drive how we treat different illnesses. We, as Americans, may have to decide if the common good exceeds the need for excess profit by insurers, providers and others. For example, Medicaid can negotiate with pharmaceutical companies on the price of drugs, but Medicare Part D expressly forbids that. So we pay higher prices.

District 6

Howard Coble (R – incumbent) http://cobleforcongress.com/

Congressman Coble’s campaign did not respond to multiple emails and calls requesting an interview.

Tony Foriest, (D) http://www.foriestforcongress.com/

Your stance on the Affordable Care Act. If part of the answer is to “repeal and replace” please be specific about what you would replace it with.

I am, certainly in favor of affordable health care. We have been trying to create affordable health care in the United States for several decades. It’s an issue that crosses the partisan line. I don’t think (the law) is a perfect thing, there needs to be tweaks, but it’s a tremendous beginning. I don’t think we should repeal it. It’s a great place to start to reform.

For example: One of the things people seem to have a big problem with, we just don’t seem to know how all this will work. We need to ensure that people have a good understanding how all this will be put together. One of the big issues is that folks don’t have a layman’s understanding of health care reform. To say the least, it’s somewhat complex and complicated. We need to lay this thing out to see what’s at stake and how we all will benefit.

Your stance on women’s health issues, including access to abortion and birth control.

I’m one who believes that no one should stand between a woman and her doctor from making decisions about her health. I have a problem with government getting in the way of those decisions. These men who are making these statements show how little they know. It shows the lack of knowledge they have. It needs to be the doctor and the woman, and government, as best it can, needs to stay out of it.

Your stance on how to keep Medicare solvent into the future.

I’m not going to pretend that I’m kind of an expert on this, but here’s what I feel: There is no doubt in my mind, we’ve got to get this economy fixed. The difference between me and the 112th Congress is I think we need to put everything on the table and try and change for the better. We need to talk about Medicare and make it a part of the national conversation. Medicare is absolutely vital; it’s something we’ve got to maintain and we’ll have to do what we need to do to keep it vital for the country.