Sen. Jack Hatch (D-Des Moines) recently stated that “Governor Branstad should stop playing partisan political games and start helping improve Iowa’s health care.”

My view is that Sen. Hatch should listen to his own words because Obamacare is driving up health care costs and making it harder for small businesses to hire workers and even keep current workers on full time.

We do need to work together to hopefully make health care more affordable — that is not in this top-down, one-size fits all government program that will balloon our national debt.

I believe Sen. Hatch is trying to persuade Gov. Branstad to adopt a state-run insurance exchange, but all of the necessary pieces to do that properly and adequately without growing government beyond its current monolithic size are not clearly defined in the federal law.

Gov. Branstad has written a letter requesting clarification on 50 different points that need to be answered before an informed and responsible decision can be made for Iowa. I applaud the governor’s “take it slow” approach since the federal government does not have all of those answers for any state nor the capability to administer the Obamacare program.

I also believe this is a massive, costly program that will be controlled by the federal government whether there are state exchanges or not; therefore, the federal government should take all of the responsibility and all of the criticism for its flaws. And, if there be any praise for it — let the feds have that as well!

Dwayne Alons

House District 4

Hull