Medicare Topic of Debate at Gibson-Schreibman Debate

The League of Women Voters of the Oneonta Area held a debate between 19th Congressional District candidates Democrat Julian Schreibman and Republican incumbent Chris Gibson on Wednesday in Morris Hall at SUNY Oneonta.

The most prominent issue of the 90-minute debate was the candidates' stance on Medicare.

"We can allow Medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs, something they're legally prohibited from doing right now, and that will have cost savings," Schreibman said. "We can look at ways of paying for quality outcomes, rather than a traditional fee for services for a number of procedures. There's been great innovations in the private sector that we can embrace."

Gibson countered with this stance:

"Twenty-five percent of those who have Medicare have the Medicare advantage. We're talking about expanding out that concept. It would be approved, regulated and garuanteed with at least as much spending as on traditional Medicare.  I voted for an accountable care approach that also uses competitive bidding for prescription drugs. We're going to have to work together to get this done."

Wednesday night was the last time the two candidates for the 19th congressional district will debate before Election Day, Tuesday November 6.