Republican Candidates Looking To Unseat Ron Kind Want To Roll Back Affordable Care Act

The three GOP candidates looking to unseat U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, all want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but have different outlooks on what might replace it.

Former Mauston city council member and retired contractor Ken Van Doren says the government should never mandate insurance coverage, and that the country should return to a system where patients make their own decisions on health care.

“You’re putting a bureaucrat between you and your doctor, and that bureaucrat is evidenced by Barack Obama’s willingness to use the political, federal bureaucracy as a political weapon,” said Van Doren.

Tony Kurtz is retired from the Army and owns a small, organic farm in Prairie du Chien. He says he’d replace the Affordable Care Act with a competitive program that could bring prices down.

“If you’re a small business or individual, you can’t shop around anywhere in the country to get health insurance; you’re limited to the state of Wisconsin,” he said. “You can’t do that with your auto insurance, you can’t do that with home owners’ insurance — if you’re a renter, you can get it anywhere in the country. Why can’t we do the same thing for your health care?”

Attorney Karen Mueller of Chippewa Falls says if the Affordable Care Act was repealed, she would not want to see it replaced with anything.

“Our health care system was never broken,” said Mueller. “It did need tweaking. We did have people with pre-existing conditions that needed health care. We could have taken care of them with piecemeal legislation.”