Gubernatorial candidates discuss health care reform

RALEIGH - Democrat Bev Perdue has a goal of having health insurance for all kids who don't already have insurance.

Republican Pat McCrory wants to give more incentives to the private sector to provide health insurance for their employees.

Perdue, the state's lieutenant governor, and McCrory, the mayor of Charlotte, are vying for the governor's race in North Carolina. Voters will elect North Carolina's next governor on Nov. 4.

"The goal I have of providing health insurance for all kids who don't have health insurance I believe is a critical goal of the 21st century," Perdue said. "It will take us a while to get there."

She said that if kids aren't provided health insurance, we will pay for them when they make emergency room visits.

"We'll be much better off having a healthy and well kid going to school or coming to daycare so that they become healthy and well workers," Perdue said.

In addition to incentives for businesses to cover their employees with health insurance, McCrory supports offering child health care tax credits and tax credits for the uninsured.

He said that he would like to do away with a lot of the health insurance mandates now required by state law.

"It's making it unaffordable for young people," McCrory said. He said doing so would allow customers to pick from a menu of health care options.

McCrory's campaign says that the state's 47 private insurance mandates are estimated to cost increases in insurance premiums of about 41 percent.

"I'd rather them have some insurance than no insurance," McCrory said.

Perdue disagreed. She said that there are certain minimum requirements that health insurance plans should offer.

She said that she supports efforts to get the families of poor people insured as a means to getting parents to enroll their children in health insurance programs.

Perdue also supports attacking health care costs by promoting healthy lifestyles, such as reducing obesity.

Along that line, Perdue says that she is proud of her work chairing the Health and Wellness Trust Fund, particularly when it comes to smoking.

"Now you can't find a tobacco user while he's sitting on state property, or on school property or in a state vehicle," Perdue said. "We've outlawed it."

McCrory seeks to attack health care costs by curtailing non-economic damages, such as punitive damages, in malpractice lawsuits. Such efforts could lower costs by reducing the amount of "defensive medicine" practiced. His campaign says that lowering such legal damages could also result in lower health insurance premiums.

He also supports changes in the mental health system, including the establishment of citizen panels to review contracts. He opposes the closing of Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh.

"The last thing we need to do is reduce the number or rooms," McCrory said.

Perdue supports extending the safety net for mental health patients and establishing mental health courts, with judges and other judicial officials who have extensive training in the subject.

Barry Smith can be reached at bsmith@link.freedom.com.