Republican Congressional candidate Mariannette Miller-Meeks is an eye doctor who says the healthcare reform debate is what prompted her to run for office. "I decided to run for congress last year because I was visiting Washington, D.C., advocating for health care reform and I felt that this year we’re on the precipice," Miller-Meeks says.
"We’re right on a teeter-totter, if you will, for what we do with health care." Miller-Meeks opposes a completely government-run health care system. She says making changes that give consumers more private health care plans to choose from is the only way to reduce costs.
"We can have health care that provides health insurance for everyone (and) is accessible, affordable and portable," she says. "….We can have a health care system that provides health insurance for everyone and it allows for innovation and it does not suppress innovation or suppress new technology, can in fact pay for itself and encourage personal responsibility."
Miller-Meeks says "realigning" the health care system to spur more competition will be of better benefit to consumers. She says a government-run system will limit choices and eventually lead to rationed care. Miller-Meeks, an ophthalmologist with a practice in Ottumwa, faces Democratic Congressman Dave Loebsack of Mount Vernon on the November ballot.