Congressional candidates differ on health care
The Citizen (Auburn)
Nate Robson
October 17th, 2008
AUBURN - Health care and the war in Afghanistan were the topics of concern for two U.S. congressional candidates as they expressed their ideas on how to lead the country into the future.
Dale Sweetland (R) and Howie Hawkins (Green), two of the three candidates competing for the 25th Congressional seat left open by the retiring Jim Walsh (R), said they wanted to change the way things were run in Washington during their televised debate from Cayuga Community College on Thursday
The third candidate, Dan Maffei (D), had a scheduling conflict and did not participate. A spokeswoman for the Maffei campaign said he had traveled to a question-and-answer session in the Fayetteville-Manlius School District after participating in a public forum earlier in the morning.
As the candidates laid out their health care ideas, Hawkins said he supported pending congressional legislation that would provide public Medicare for all through private insurance. Under that plan, which he said was similar to a single-payer Medicare plan, individuals would be allowed to pick their own provider and doctor.
Hawkins compared his plan to using a credit card in that if a patient required a medically needed procedure, they used their card and the doctor would bill the insurance company.
Sweetland, on the other hand, said he wanted to create a hybrid system that wasn't completely controlled by the government or private insurers.
"People are afraid they will lose control, doctors offices are afraid they will lose choices and hospitals are scared of possibly being under-reimbursed," Sweetland said as he addressed the concerns about a government-controlled program.
Sweetland said he wanted to bring representatives together from the concerned parties and attempt to create a new program that would cover anybody who wanted to use it while given the choices and the control they wanted.
As the candidates shifted over to the war in Afghanistan, they collided on how to handle the current military situation.
Sweetland called for a possible shift in tactics while Hawkins said he wanted a complete and immediate withdrawal.
"If Iraq is a dumb war, Afghanistan is a dumber war," Hawkins said. "The Taliban is not the same as al-Qaida."
Hawkins, who protested the Vietnam war and is a U.S. Marine veteran, said he would support a diplomatic surge with the national and tribal leaders in the region, but would oppose any type of military surge.
Sweetland countered back and said neither he, Hawkins or Maffei had ever been briefed by Congress or any military personnel in charge of operations in Afghanistan and said he would need to get more information from experts before he committed to a strategy.
Sweetland also said he didn't believe John McCain or Barack Obama's troop surge plans would work given the Soviet Union's failure in the country during the 1980s.
"I am very worried about Afghanistan," Sweetland said. "It's a mountainous region of the world and its difficult (to use) ground troop warfare."
The energy crisis also brought out two different ways to solve the same problem.
"I don't think there is a silver bullet in this situation, its a combination of many (things)," Sweetland said.
Sweetland said he wanted to invest in alternative energy, clean coal and drill for domestic oil to curb the nation's dependency on the Middle East.
Hawkins said he believed the key to the energy crisis was improving infrastructure by cutting nuclear power and using that saved money to improve homes and invest into solar and wind power.
"We should use electrified railroads instead of fossil fuel roadways," Hawkins said. "We need efficient transportation. Two-thirds of consumed oil is for transportation."
Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net
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