In his sixth bid for the House District 32 seat in the heavily Republican area of Gillette, all Democrat Duffy Jenniges has to do is convince about 500 Republicans - give or take a few - to vote the other way.

Despite the odds, the former railroad worker says he's certain that his plan for making health care more affordable is superior to his opponent's. Jenniges' plan: Create a pool for Wyoming citizens who cannot afford insurance and charge them a premium based on income.

"That way you don't have hospitals charging people with insurance more to make up for the people who don't have insurance," said Jenniges. "My opponent was down there for two years and he worked on introducing a bill for tort reform. That doesn't help people without insurance in this state and it doesn't help people who are underinsured."

His opponent, Republican Dr. Timothy Hallinan, took the House District 32 seat in 2006. Health care was a main topic in that race as well. Jenniges had asserted that sending a doctor to fix health care was like sending a fox to guard the henhouse, while Hallinan answered it was like sending a wise old owl.

Hallinan said he stands by that answer. He did introduce a tort reform bill that had the support of the Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association and the medical community, but it didn't pass the senate. Hallinan said as a member of the Labor, Health and Social Services Committee he's worked on a variety of health care issues during the past two years, including measures for child care.

"I had big impact on that bill for child care. It included subsidies for people who can't afford it, and we tried to keep it in the private sector rather than a large warehouse-type of child care," said Hallinan. "I think I had a big impact in the final compromise we came to."

Hallinan said he believes Jennige's approach of providing a statewide pool of insurance will not significantly lower health costs for all.

"Simply subsidizing people's insurance may or may not reduce medical costs for the whole society. It might help a few individual people," said Hallinan.

Hallinan's vision for improving health care is to provide subsidies and incentives to primary care physicians to bring them to the state.

"People initially go to a specialist when they don't know which specialist to see," said Hallinan. "People need advice on how to spend their medical dollars."

He said Wyoming has a shortage of primary care physicians, and people need to rely more on those physicians because they can address about 90 percent of a person's medical needs.

Jenniges said health care is his primary focus, and he disagrees that helping folks on the insurance side of the equation won't have an impact.

"We've talked about it for 12 years and talking about it isn't getting anything accomplished," said Jenniges. "So if I go down there, I might as well be the one to take the lead."

Jenniges said he supports efforts to bring value-added energy business into the state to complement the established commodity export industries.

Jenniges said he considers himself a man of action when it comes to taking on issues that come before the legislature.

"We need to, as a state and as a legislature, to get into action and start doing this stuff, because putting it into committees is not doing a thing," said Jenniges.

Both candidates agree that investing in Wyoming's roads and highways should be a priority when shaping the state's budget.

"I would be very cautious to initiate a lot of spending based on the revenue generated this fiscal year," said Hallinan. "I think it's going to be much tougher to meet our expenses in next couple years."

Contact reporter Dustin Bleizeffer at (307) 577-6069 or dustin.bleizeffer@trib.com

BIO BOXES

House District 32

covering part of Gillette

Duffy Jenniges

Party: Democrat

Age: 62

Home: Gillette

Occupation: Former railroad worker

Education: Associates degree in family and addiction counseling, University of South Dakota

Family: Married, two children

Political experience: Treasurer of Campbell County Democratic Party

Timothy Hallinan

Party: Republican

Age: 63

Home: Gillette

Occupation: Physician

Education: B.A. Stanford University (Honors in economics); M.D. University of Utah 1975

Family: Married, three children

Political experience: Elected three times to Campbell County Memorial Hospital Board. Served nine years until he resigned in December 2005. Elected to Wyoming House in 2006

House District 32

covering part of Gillette

Duffy Jenniges

Party: Democrat

Age: 62

Home: Gillette

Occupation: Former railroad worker

Education: Associates degree in family and addiction counseling, University of South Dakota

Family: Married, two children

Political experience: Treasurer of Campbell County Democratic Party

Timothy Hallinan

Party: Republican

Age: 63

Home: Gillette

Occupation: Physician

Education: B.A. Stanford University (Honors in economics); M.D. University of Utah 1975

Family: Married, three children

Political experience: Elected three times to Campbell County Memorial Hospital Board. Served nine years until he resigned in December 2005. Elected to Wyoming House in 2006]]->