By Eleanor Boudreau
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkno/local-wkno-909246.mp3
Memphis, TN – Tennessee is going to elect a new governor this year. The current governor, Democrat Phil Bredesen, is retiring due to term limits.
There is one major Democratic candidate left in the field: Jackson Businessman Mike McWherter. But three Republican candidates are still battling it out for that party's nomination: Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam, Chattanooga Congressman Zach Wamp, and Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey.
To help you decide who to vote for, WKNO has teamed up with WUOT in Knoxville and WPLN in Nashville. We asked the four top candidates the same three questions about healthcare; and given the choice between healthcare being a right or a privilege, none of them were willing to call healthcare a right.
President Obama's healthcare reform hasn't been very popular in Tennessee. Republicans in the state house and state senate introduced legislation resisting the bill; and Bredesen called it, "The mother of all unfunded mandates."
Bredesen recently balanced the budget in part by cutting TennCare, and all the candidates for governor bristle when they think about the roles of TennCare re-expanding because of national healthcare reform.
Agreement between the candidates ended, however, when we asked about medical debt. About half of all personal bankruptcies can be traced to medical debt; and Tennessee is consistently ranked among the top five states in personal bankruptcy filings.
McWherter and Wamp say this is a problem they would address by working to bring down the cost of healthcare.
Ramsey and Haslam say it's an issue of personal responsibility; they're advocates of money management classes in high school.
To hear the candidates' full responses to our healthcare questions visit our TN Governor's Race 2010 page.
Again, McWherter is the only Democrat still in the race. Either Wamp, Ramsey, or Haslam will oppose him. Republican voters will make that decision in the primary August 5th.