GOP House hopeful: Health bill won't cut costs

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Republican U.S. House candidate Rick Berg says new federal health care legislation won't reduce costs or provide universal coverage.

Berg is a member of a North Dakota House committee that is reviewing the measure's effects on North Dakota's state government. The panel held a hearing Wednesday.

The Department of Human Services estimates the health-care measure will cost state taxpayers an extra $106 million through 2019.

Berg says the federal health care bill should be repealed, and Congress should focus on changes that will help control costs and increase consumers’health-care choices.

A spokeswoman for Democratic incumbent Rep. Earl Pomeroy says the health bill will benefit North Dakota. A hospital spokesman says if the bill is repealed, increased federal payments for North Dakota Medicare patients will be lost.

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