NJ Sen. candidate wants to reign in Medicaid, Obamacare – Newsworks.org

On Aug. 13, New Jersey will host a primary election for the U.S. Senate seat left vacant after the death of longtime Democratic senator Frank Lautenberg.

Thus far, much of the attention has been directed towards Democratic candidates Cory Booker, Frank Pallone, Rush Holt and Sheila Oliver.

But registered Republicans will have to choose between former Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan, or the Tea-Party embraced candidate Dr. Alieta Eck.

Eck is a private-practice physician in Piscataway, North Jersey, who’s set up a clinic that provides free health care to the poor by getting doctors and nurses to volunteer their time.

She’d like to see this model replace what she sees as the “governmental overreach” of both Medicaid and Obamacare.

“Roughly half the Medicaid money comes from the federal government,” said Eck. “I would block-grant that back to the states and let them innovate, let them solve the problems of the poor instead of having all the strings attached that the federal government has.”

Asked how she differentiates herself from her opponent Lonegan she said this: “I haven’t really looked into a lot of the beliefs that my opponent has so I really can’t comment too much on what’s different.”