Wisconsin Health News

Contenders for the U.S. Senate clashed over the federal health reform law Tuesday night.

 

Former Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., called for building on the act, while current Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., called for its repeal during a debate in Milwaukee hosted by Marquette University Law School and WISN-12.

 

Feingold said the law has helped 20 million people gain coverage. He added that it’s stopped insurers from denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions and allowed children to stay on their parents’ health plans until they turned 26.

 

“Moving forward, yes, we have to work on a bipartisan basis to figure out how to make it better,” he said. As an example, he pointed toward fixing the family glitch, where eligibility for tax credits is based on an individual rather than family.

 

He also called for repealing the Cadillac Tax, addressing the rising cost of prescription medications and finding a way to control deductibles.

 

Johnson said the law was “a disaster” and that its supporters committed “massive consumer fraud.” He said the law has forced consumers off their health plans, failed to reduce premiums and caused people to lose their doctors.

 

“The fact of the matter is thousands of Wisconsinites lost the health plans they could afford,” Johnson said. He pointed to the elimination of the state’s high-risk pool, which he said led to 20,000 losing coverage.

 

Johnson said consumers should establish health savings accounts and be allowed to buy health plans across state lines. He also called for re-instating high-risk pools for those with pre-existing conditions.

 

The candidates also addressed the opioid epidemic. Feingold called for providing more resources to combat the epidemic and said pharmaceutical companies need to be held accountable.

 

Johnson said Congress provided money through the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. He said the federal government has been drafting rules to cut the connection between Medicare payments and questions about treating pain in a survey of consumers in part because of legislation he’s introduced.