>>> the 2014 atlanta press club young debate series brought to you from georgia public broadcasting. now the race for insurance
commissioner. >>> good evening. i'm brad means. co-anchor of wjbf's weekday
newscasts in augusta. we'd like to welcome you - and our live studio audience - to the atlanta press club loudermilk young debate series originating from the studios of georgia public broadcasting in atlanta. this is the debate between the
candidates for georgia's insurance commissioner let's meet the candidates. they are, in alphabetical order, ralph hudgens has been the insurance commissioner since 2011. liz johnson is a longtime insurance agent.
and ted metz is a us navy veteran and former gop district chair. now, let's meet our panelists. meredith anderson is an evening anchor for news 12 in augusta. andy miller is c-e-o and editor of georgia health news. and michelle wirth is a reporter
for 90.1 wabe. this debate will consist of three rounds. for more information on the rules - please visit atlantapressclub.org. it's a great source for that information. now let's get started.
in the first round the candidates will be asked one question from a specific panelist. michelle wirth, you get the first question for liz johnson. >>> ms. johnson, you have spoken in support of expanding medicaid under the affordable care act.
your opponent, mr. hudgens has been an outspoken critic. in your mind why is medicaid expansion needed? >> thank you so kindly for that question. it is so critical because hundreds of thousands of georgians, up to a million are
uninsured. this gives them an opportunity to be insured. thank you. >>> andy miller, it is your turn to ask ralph hudgens a question. >> you have been an outspoken opponent of the affordable care act.
has your office been helpful to georgians seeking coverage or has it sat on the sidelines during the process? >> thank you for that question, andy. of course, we have been helpful. we follow the law of the land. my opposition to the affordable
care act is that the president promised that insurance rates were going to go down $2,500. he said if you like your plan you can keep it and if you like your doctor you can keep it. none of those have been true. so we are doing what we are called to do for the affordable
care act and that is to certify the rate. we can either say that a plan is too expensive or say that it is adequate. that is what we have done. we have done everything that we are called on to implement the affordable care act.
and meredith anderson, you may now ask ted metz a question. >> as a former district chairman you worked on a senate campaign for a republican. why did you decide to run as a libertarian? what impact does that have on your stance with the aca and
medicaid expansion in georgia. >> that is three questions in one. to start with after having been behind the scenes with the republican party i just made the decision that i could no longer ethically, morally try to spread the liberty message within the
republican party. the republican party seems to be extremely stuck on old paradigms that are no longer working. now, the next part of the question was about the to me it is an unconstitutional act to begin with. the concept behind it is very
good but the workings of it are very convoluted. what's the last part of the question? >> medicaid expansion? >> medicaid expansion would work only if doctors were willing to take medicaid patients and if the medicaid system paid the
doctors when the doctors made their billings. >>> very good. that concludes the first round. each candidate will now ask one question to the opponent of his or her choice. each will have 30 seconds to ask the question, 60 seconds to
respond, and 30 seconds for a rebuttal. mr. metz your question for one of your opponents. >> i would like to ask ralph hudgens a question. as insurance commissioner you have been in the position to inform georgians about what is
going to happen with the affordable care act in georgia. you have had since march of 2010 to inform about what the law was going to do once it took effect. why have you remained silent? >> i have not remained silent. i have probably made 100 speeches to various civic clubs.
every time i'm called on to give a speech and talk about the affordable care act and i have said that it is going to limit choices and limit the number of doctors and the premiums are going to increase. both of those statements have been very well legitimized by
what is happening. the premiums have gone up dramatically. like i say, the president said that if you like your doctor you can keep it, that's not true. and he also said if you like your plan you can keep it and that's not true.
i don't know where you get the idea that i have not been against the affordable care act. i have very strongly. >> we have time for a 30 second rebuttal if you care to offer one? >> i have not seen any news media coverage of your speaking
out to inform about the affordable care act other than videos online of you saying you are an obstructionist and then videos saying you really have no authority to do anything with the federal law. and, mr. johnson you may now question the opponent of your
choice. >> over the past year your public statements and actions have been very unfavorable towards women. you have implied that preexisting conditions like breast cancer were the fault of the woman.
and you recently called out a female journalist who was roughed up and removed from a republican event you attended. my question, given your unfavorable attitude towards women why should the women of georgia trust you to make favorable decisions regarding
their insurance and their pocket book? >> i don't know where you got your information, but when i was talking to augusta and i equated -- i was talking to a republican women's organization and i equated a preexisting condition to having an
automobile accident and it was not your fault but then calling your insurance agent and saying you want collision coverage. i was not talking about people with preexisting conditions because preexisting conditions are beyond the person's control. they just happen and i am very
sympathetic with people who have preexisting conditions. when i was at the birch pumpkin farm i spoke, i left right after i spoke and headed to an event in barra county. yes, i said i don't know why you're videoing this. and then i made a further
comment. i did not have objection to being videoed. i don't have objection to that. >> ms. johnson, your turn for >> this being breast cancer awareness month millions of women can take advantage of free mammogram or well woman visit
with no out of pocket costs all because of the affordable care act which eliminates being denied coverage or higher premiums for preexisting conditions. >>> mr. hudgens, it is your turn to question the opponent of your >> i would like to ask a
question to mr. metz but i think i know the answer. do you agree with me that the affordable care act needs to be repealed in its entirety and let the state of georgia implement a program that will do the same thing as the affordable care act but not be as convoluted and not
raise premiums? >> mr. hudgens, i absolutely agree that the affordable care act, i called it a train wreck before in public, because when we come down to it the affordable care act is nothing more than something that was put forth in order to tear it down
and replace it with a single payer health care system that has been in the play since 1996 when they passed the hippa law. ever since then they have been trying to get single payer system out. it is nothing more than a taxpayer give away to the big
corporate interests who run health care. there are so many different ways we can give affordable health care. several different models are in place in different states. we need to take a look and see how we can do that here in
georgia, such as the direct patient care model which is like care for the little guy. that would work. that is all i can say for now. >> your opportunity to rebut mr. metz's answer if you would like to? >> i don't think there is
rebuttal because i believe exactly like he does. the affordable care act has not delivered what it promised and i think we need to repeal it and as he said we need to come up with a state solution and not try to do an omnibus one bill that will try to fix every
problem when it created many, many more problems than were there before. >>> thank you very much for those questions and answers. if you are just joining us, this is the debate between the insurance commissioner. we will now go to our third and
final round. in this round our panelists will question the candidates until we run out of time. andy miller, you get the first question in this round. >>> this is for mr. metz. if you are against the affordable care act and you are
against medicaid expansion, what would you do to deal with the well over 1 million who have no insurance right now? it's 20% of the population. if we cut the aca it would increase. what would you do about that to get people insurance?
>> first and foremost let's take a look at our health care system. it has turned into a sick care it is no longer about health care but about enriching people who have nothing to do with the individual care of the patient. behind every doctor there is
probably 5,000 people standing behind them with their hands out expecting a piece of the pie. they absolutely do nothing to contribute to the outcome of that patient's health. they only serve to increase the costs. there are so many regulations on
the books that doctors have to adhere by in order to treat their clients and their patients, it's just ridiculous. one thing we need to do is look at tort reform because tort reform costs 25% of health care dollars. we can replace tort reform with
binding arbitration and get it out of the courts. there is also ways we can implement other programs in georgia to give health care coverage outside of the affordable care act and outside of medicare and medicaid. >> thank you.
michelle wirth it is your turn to ask a question. >> mr. hudgens you said we should appeal the affordable care act and move to a state solution. what do you think that state solution should look like? >> i believe the state solution
would be to create a state based high risk pool. that was the big problem before the affordable care act and that's what everybody says is one of the greatest accomplishments. we need to have a state-based high risk pool so people with
preexisting conditions can get that insurance coverage. but then we also need to allow the state to have a high deductible insurance plans which a lot of people are not worried about the first $10,000 worth of their coverage. it's those automobile accidents
that have a 75 or $100 cost that they need the insurance. under the affordable care act you can't do that. there is a lot of things that the affordable care act, the one solution for all the problems has created and we need to go back.
we need to repeal it and go to a state-based solution. meredith anderson, you may now ask a question. >>> my question is for ms. johnson. rural hospitals in georgia are closing. some say as many as 15 could
close within the next year or two years. it is leaving a lot without a hospital, without an emergency room. what do you think needs to be done with that? what do you think the problem is with that?
>> obviously it is quite a huge problem. this is what i understand about all of this including the rural hospitals. i understand that nearly 100,000 georgia seniors and people with disabilities saved an average hundreds of dollars on
prescription medications. health care and insurance is a pocket book and wallet issue for millions of georgians. putting the interest of georgia first should be a priority. so hospitals fall under that priority. my opponent, mr. hudgens, he
won't fight for georgians, but i will. >> we go back around to andy miller. your chance to ask a question of a candidate. >> commissioner, let's talk about auto insurance rates. have they stayed the same, gone
up or come down in your time as commissioner? and what can insurance commissioner do about an every day pocket book issue for consumers? >> andy, auto rates according to in sure.com says georgia's rates are higher than the average.
they use some very select precincts to determine that and they use selective type of insurance when in reality the national association of insurance commissioners has done a study very similar to that but they used a lot more data points and they used it a lot more
insurance companies. the truth, the reality is that georgia is 1% less than the national average on homeowners they are 13.2% less than the national average and on all lines of insurance they are 2.4% less than the national average. the data that says that it is
more expensive in georgia is false. >> now it is time for michelle wirth to ask another question. >> ms. johnson, do you find the state has high auto insurance premiums? if you think it is high what do you think you can do about that
if you are elected? >> thank you for the question. yes, the car insurance rates are outrageous. in fact, recently -- pardon me, ladies and gentlemen -- recently we were ranked number two in the nation with the highest car insurance rates.
this, again, for georgians is a pocket book and wallet issue. so as a result of that here we have, again, a situation where we must begin to put the interest of georgians first. when we do that, lower insurance premiums across the board will take place.
i will put georgians first. i will bring everybody to the table to make that happen. mr. hudgens won't, but i will. >> meredith anderson, your turn to ask another question. >> i have a question for the we had a lot of people reach out to us saying i am too poor for
obamacare but too rich for medicaid. and there is this gap of people who cannot get insurance or are telling us they cannot afford insurance. i know you said you want to repeal the affordable care act, but it is the law of the land.
so what do you do with the people who are stuck in the middle? what can you do to help those half a million people? >> well, the affordable care act ties our hands. we cannot let them have a policy that would meet their needs.
they have to have the policy with every mandate in it and those are expensive. we are just certifying rates for next year. last year on the exchange humana was the lowest price for a silver plan. this year when they have filed
with us they have increased their rates 18.1%. and this is making it true what i said that the coverage is going to be limited and the prices are going to go up. as far as the rural hospitals go that ms. johnson was talking about, the affordable care act
is greatly responsible for those rural hospitals being closed. and medicaid expansion, the governor has said that medicaid expansion would cost the state $2.5 billion over ten years. and frankly the general assembly cannot afford that. >>> it is time for andy miller
to ask another question of our candidates. >> ms. johnson i want to pick up on the cost of the medicaid expansion. you support that, explain how we can pay for it and what georgians would get as a benefit?
>> every georgia citizen should have access to affordable health care while the opponent has focused on blocking affordable health care and denying georgians with preexisting conditions over 300,000 enrolled in the first year. again, i just want to remind you
that my opponent, the incumbent, mr. hudgens, he just won't put georgians first, but i will. >> y'all have been coming at mr. hudgens pretty hard tonight. we will give you 30 seconds to respond. >> instead of running for insurance commissioner she needs
to run for the state house or state senate because they passed house bill 992 this last time saying that the governor cannot expand medicaid without the general assembly's permission. and then he has to sign that bill. so she is running for the wrong
office obviously because i don't have anything to do with whether medicaid can be expanded or not. >>> that is all the time we have for questions. candidates will now have 60 seconds for a closing statement. by random selection, ralph hudgens makes the first closing
statement. >> thank you, brad. thank you for georgia public television for hosting this debate. i am ralph hudgens. i am running for reelection. during time of being insurance commissioner we have gotten four
georgia citizens $30 million worth of claims that insurance companies at first denied. that is real people getting real money because of our department. secondly, our fraud division has gotten 60 different insurance agents and gotten them indicted for stealing money from the
consumers. my first choice or my first desire is to protect the consumers in the state of georgia whether it be as insurance commissioner, safety fire commissioner or industrial commissioner, my objective is to protect the consumers in the
state of georgia. so thank you for giving me this opportunity. i would love to have your vote on november 4. ted metz, you may now give your closing remarks. >> thank you and thank you for georgia public television for
holding these debates. i have been a servant to my fellow man since i was an early child. i made an oath to do my best, to do my duty to god and my country. i have been making good on that oath ever since.
i have been a licensed insurance agent since 1989. i helped thousands of families make their correct choice for their insurance. i did serve in the u.s. navy. the navy taught me how to pay attention to detail to find the problem with complex integrated
systems and fix that one we have systems in georgia built on industrial age mentality. we need to fix them and bring them into the digital age mentality. there are a lot of things we can do in georgia to give affordable health care, make doctors whole,
make doctors and patients relations private and improve health care outcomes. vote for me, i'm ted metz. and liz johnson, it is your turn to give a closing statement. >> thank you to each one of you. for 40 years i have fought to protect the economic security
for consumers through their my opponent has brought georgia the second highest car insurance rates in the nation while accepting thousands in contributions from the industry he sworn to regulate. he can't fight for you. as an insurance veteran i know
the importance of access to affordable health care. with his public vow to obstruct affordable health care for those who need it mr. hudgens won't fight for you i will. being a woman in the insurance agency i know how deeply insurance touches each of your
lives which is why you need more than a career politician in this office. georgia needs a true advocate who is ready to bring the insurance providers to the table and get tough on insurance criminals. i am elizabeth "liz" johnson.
i ask for your vote and honor to serve as commissioner of i thank you and i approve this message. >> and that concludes our we'd like to remind all voters that the general election will be held tuesday, november 4th and early voting is already
under way. our thanks to the candidates and to our panel of journalists. we'd also like to thank the atlanta press club for arranging this debate. for more information about the atlanta press club and all of the debates they are hosting
this election season - visit lafrl atlantapressclub.org. this debate will be archived there. the debate will also be available on-demand at gpb.org. loudermilk-young debate series is made possible by a donation from r. charles loudermilk.
please stay with us for the debate among candidates for georgia's twelfth congressional
affordable care act in georgia,district. thanks for joining us for the atlanta press club loudermilk-young debate series.
