Des Moines Register - Nussle's Plans Target Health Care

Nussle's plans target health care

BY THOMAS BEAUMONT AND TONY LEYS REGISTER STAFF WRITERS
Des Moines Register

Jim Nussle, the Republican candidate for governor, on Wednesday proposed a series of measures aimed at helping older Iowans, small businesses, farmers and doctors pay less to receive and provide health care.

The measures include capping punitive damages in medical malpractice lawsuits at $250,000 on doctors and hospitals. Nussle said rising liability-insurance premiums are a reason some rural areas lack critical medical specialties.

"I wanted to come here and highlight what we need to do in order to recruit even more professionals to Iowa if we are to be successful," Nussle said after a tour of Boone County Hospital.

Nussle also proposed allowing farmers and small businesses to join insurance pools to provide price advantages like those that larger companies and organizations receive.

The eight-term congressman from Manchester also said he would seek to enact a new administrative rules review system aimed at streamlining patient care and create the Iowa General Prescriptions Savings hot line as one-stop drug resource to provide price information.

Later Wednesday, in a meeting with the Polk County Medical Society, Nussle told doctors that Iowa has some of the nation's highest-quality health care, which is a major selling point to prospective residents. "Access to quality care makes Iowa a better choice," he said, "... but it's under siege, and we could lose that."

Nussle said Iowa has the second-lowest rate of uninsured residents in the country, but it can improve. He noted that many uninsured people have jobs, but many aren't offered insurance, and many others can't afford the premiums. Some, he said, choose not to buy insurance even though they could. "Many of them are basically gambling with their health," he said.

A surgeon in the audience asked Nussle if he supported raising the cigarette tax. The doctor noted that Iowa has a relatively low tobacco tax, and he said he hoped increasing it would help cut smoking.

The congressman replied that he doesn't believe raising the tobacco tax would decrease smoking, and he said a tax increase would just give more money to politicians to waste.

Nussle's Democratic opponent, Secretary of State Chet Culver, also was expected to speak before the doctors' group Wednesday evening in what would have been a rare joint appearance. He canceled at the last minute, citing a scheduling conflict.

Dr. Kelly Reed, the medical society's president, expressed disappointment at Culver's absence.

"It's very unfortunate he chose not to attend this forum," she told her fellow physicians. The group represents hundreds of doctors, plus their families and staff members, she said. "It affects thousands of voters in the Polk County region," she said.

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