Paul Davis on health care

What Davis said

At the WIBW-TV forum on October 18, 2018, Davis said, "I believe that we need to preserve what we like about our healthcare system," naming the rule that lets young adults stay on a parent's insurance until 26, and then fixing what needed fixing, especially costs. Ballotpedia's summary of his campaign site lists fixing the ACA, lowering premiums, expanding children's coverage and Medicaid, and opposing cuts to Medicare. It also quotes the line that "the federal government should never come between you and your doctor." His campaign said that as a legislator he had worked to expand health insurance for Kansas children and had opposed what it called Brownback's attacks on Medicare.

In the closing weeks he pressed Watkins on pre-existing conditions, asking how Watkins could promise to protect them while calling for repeal of the ACA. He also argued that the 2017 tax law would lead to pressure for cuts to Medicare and Social Security, and pledged never to cut Social Security benefits.

What Watkins said

Watkins favored repealing the Affordable Care Act, though he said there were parts he liked. "Healthcare is a large and complex series of systems and it ought to be built on a platform of free market," he said at the WIBW forum. He opposed "Medicare for All," which he estimated would add about $32 trillion to the debt. On Social Security he called the system broken and said future retirees should not expect current benefit levels.

In the record

Health care policy in Kansas during Davis's House years centered on Medicaid expansion, which the Legislature did not adopt while he served. We did not find a recorded floor vote of his on expansion itself to cite here.