WINCHESTER — Democratic voters in the 10th House District have a choice of two candidates when they go the polls on Tuesday.
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Mike Turner, a retired Air Force colonel, is making his first run for political office.
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"She's a lifetime academic and think-tank consultant. She had one moment in the sun. That was Hillary Clinton's health care plan in 1994," Turner said.
That program didn't take root, "not because the theory wasn't sound, but because she had no practical knowledge on how to implement a plan," Turner said.
Turner says he offers a stark contrast based on his experience in the Air Force and with nonprofit agencies, where there's a premium on making plans and implementing them.
On policy, one of the most substantive differences between the two candidates is their approach to how they would implement universal health insurance.
Turner has adopted a plan already introduced in Congress, House Resolution 676, which would end all private insurance coverage and move the country to a "single payer" system in which the federal government would be responsible for costs, paid for by a slate of tax increases.
"The reason I've endorsed single payer, it is clearly the answer," he said. "I didn't land on [House Resolution] 676 because it was the most liberal position, I landed on it because there's empirical evidence, overwhelming empirical evidence that it will work."
Nations that have tried to preserve private insurance while making such a change "are going broke. They are not sustainable answers."
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"In this plan, I'm different from Mike in that I'm not talking about something radical that would force people to make changes," she said.
