Tuesday, August 7th, 2012--1:35p.m.
MADISON--Healthcare. It's a topic likely to frame this fall's elections--and candidates everywhere are drawing battle lines on the issue. This race is no exception: all four Republicans: Mark Neumann, Tommy Thompson, Eric Hovde and Jeff Fitzgerald--say if elected, they'd vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare by right-leaning politicos.

However, Healthcare remains a major issue in this country. So, we asked each of them to outline what they'd propose in place of the Affordable Care Act to deal with the situation.

"I don't trust the government or insurance companies to make health care decisions on behalf of me or my family," said Jeff Fitzgerald. "I trust myself. So we need a more market-driven approach, a more wellness put into healthcare and that's what I think should happen."

Some of the candidates' plans include: allowing for insurance purchases across state lines and utilizing health savings accounts.

Health Savings Accounts are something Mark Neumann says his business has used very effectively. "We put $3,000 into a savings account, that's their money," said Neumann. "So they now have virtually full coverage, but instead of just insurance like we're used to it they're looking at that $3,000 every time they go to the doctor to decide what and how they're going to buy their medicine. So it brings the free market back into the system."

Eric Hovde proposes using a premium support system to help those struggling economically to purchase their insurance. "I think we can deal with, you know, those catastrophic or end-of-life care events with a premium support system to allow them to buy insurance to prevent against those events," said Hovde. "Otherwise we have to drive people to be more tied into the cost of their healthcare so they start caring for themselves."

Tommy Thompson also suggests changing the litigation system.
"So doctors don't spend ungodly amount of money protecting themselves from lawsuits," said Thompson. "You know they spend so much money in practicing defensive medicine, let's allow it if you go into the hospital ugly, more than likely you're going to come out ugly and you shouldn't sue because you're not beautiful, should you?"