Republican members of Congress in southwest Michigan seldom face primary challengers. But long-time Sixth District Representative Fred Upton does. Next week, voters in the district that includes Kalamazoo will decide whether Upton or challenger Jack Hoogendyk will advance to the general election this fall. As WMUK's Andy Robins reports, the primary campaign has revolved around the challenger's question: which candidate is the "true" conservative.

Upton has been in Congress since 1986 when he challenged, and defeated, former congressman Mark Siljander in that year's GOP primary. Since then Upton has faced only two primary opponents himself, including this year's challenge by Hoogendyk, a former state representative and Kalamazoo County commissioner.

Hoogendyk charges that Upton hasn't lived up to the Republican Party's core values. Upton disagrees. The two also part company on other issues, including health care. Both say the massive reform plan approved by Congress and signed by President Obama is a disaster and should be scrapped. Both say people should be able to shop for health insurance across state lines. But their agreement pretty much stops there. Upton says the reforms will cost businesses too much money and don't provide incentives for them to offer employees health coverage. But he says some parts of the package should be maintained:

"I agree with the provision that insurance companies can no longer discriminate against someone who has a pre-existing illness. I was, you know, long, long, long before this bill started moving, I was for that. I support the provision that particularly students if they happen to be older than 22 ought to be still covered under their parents' plan. But remember, the President said if you like your health insurance you can keep it. Well, not if you have a medical savings account. And not if your company decides, uh, I talked with one business this week; their cost for health insurance is $8,500 an employee. They've already said, 'You know what? We've just figured it out. We can pay a fine of $3,000 and put everybody in the state plan and just cancel it for all of our employees, and we're silly not to do that.' Well, if you liked your health insurance and you work for that company, all of a sudden it's no longer available; you're stuck. When this thing fully gets implemented, if it's the way it was signed into law, people across the country - they're already mad. They're really gonna be mad as it impacts their own family in terms of decent coverage they thought they would have."

Upton's opponent Jack Hoogendyk also sees plenty of things wrong with the health care reforms approved last year. But unlike Upton, he sees little or no upside. Hoogendyk says most decisions about how to provide and pay for medical care should be left to market forces. Hoogendyk says the government should stay out of way, except for allowing individuals as well as businesses to deduct health insurance premiums. He's also supports health care savings accounts which Hoogendyk says give people more control over their care, and encourage them to shop for the best deal. He told WMUK's Gordon Evans that doesn't happen, and costs go up, when government and insurers are in charge:

[Hoogendyk] "And, you know, when you go to a third party, that's what happens. You start losing, you start losing that transaction that happens between the buyer and the seller, and looking at the best value, the best product, the best quality."

[Evans] "Should insurance companies be allowed to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions?"

[Hoogendyk] "I think they should be allowed to make that decision. I think there are ways insurance companies would find to provide a service or a coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. But again, and it's a tough thing to say, but I think on the free market, as you let these things develop, I think that would take care of itself. But it's not the government's role to force private companies to decide what kind of coverage they're gonna offer for their customers."

[Evans] "How about the part of the bill that allows parents to keep their children on their health care plans longer than they could have previously, extended it by four years?"

[Hoogendyk] "Sure. Well, there again, why not let the market make that decision? Why not let insurance companies compete with each other for the kind of coverage that they offer to their customers? And, one insurance company would say, 'Hey, we found a way we could provide coverage even for your kids, you know, when they're older and they're in school, they're in college, they're still living at home, family plans, whatever. There's all kinds of flexibility that could be out there, I believe, in an open market, in a free market."

Hoogendyk mounted an abortive Republican primary campaign for governor four years ago and lost big to veteran Democrat Carl Levin in the 2008 U.S. Senate race. Hoogendyk says Upton's margin of victory has eroded in the 6^th Congressional District because he hasn't followed conservative principles, especially on government spending. Upton denies that. He says he opposed excessive spending even during the GOP administrations of presidents Reagan, George Bush, and his son George W. Bush.

The winner of the August 3^rd primary will face Democrat Don Cooney, the Kalamazoo City commissioner Upton defeated by a wide margin two years ago.

You can get more information about the candidates at the MI Vote Web page.


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