One candidate for Congress from Iowa’s first district accuses the other of “talking trash” on the campaign circuit. Democratic challenger Ann Hutchinson says incumbent Jim Nussle in a dozen years as congressman should have done a better job of getting Iowa its fair share of Medicare reimbursement. She says Iowa’s at the bottom of the list, yet ranks eighth in the country in quality of care provided by our hospitals, and in contrast top-reimbursed Louisiana is 49th in quality of care. Hutchinson says it’s high time something got done to equalize the disparity. She says it’s obvious the system isn’t promoting efficiency or quality. Nussle says he is doing something about it, and has the support of many other members of Congress for legislation he’s introduced. He says people will “talk trash” in a political season to make points, but when it comes to solving the problem, all the Iowa delegation has been on board with what he calls “the Nussle proposal” for some time. He hopes Congress gets back to work, and the Senate passes the bill the House passed in June. Hutchinson also challenged Nussle to three debates between now and election day.
