KWCH

WICHITA, Kan. U.S. Senator Jerry Moran was in Wichita for a Chamber of Commerce luncheon Monday afternoon, touching base with Kansans. He addressed the importance of continued professional development with large-scale projects at state universities and discussed key topics impacting Kansas and the nation.

Part of the discussion in a forum with the Chamber included healthcare costs and concerns about North Korea and its nuclear threats.

When it comes to North Korea, Moran says the U.S. should continue to pursue diplomatic efforts with the isolated Southeast Asian nation.

Moran adds this also means the rest of the world has to help. He says this is particularly true for China, as well as Russa. The senator says Russia may be undermining the United States' efforts to further isolate North Korea and that the U.S. should be ready for any scenario.

"My view is this is a very serious threat, nothing we can look the other way," Moran says. "And I would continue deployment of missile defenses to protect Americans and our allies to protect us from an intentional act by North Korea."

The senator also discussed healthcare. Moran says the Affordable Care Act is still too expensive. To address concerns with health care costs, he says he hopes states are given more flexibility to make their own decisions about healthcare for their citizens.

Moran also says lawmakers need to find a way to make sure people with pre-existing conditions are covered.

He says the problem with the Affordable Care Act is that copays and deductibles are high enough that for many, it's like they don't even have insurance.

"I would say that one of the things we ought not to forget is we keep having these debates in Washington D.C. about who pays," Moran says. "The real issue, at least initially, should be, 'why does healthcare cost so much money? Why does healthcare cost lots of money? Because what happens is, even if we transfer it to a different system, it's unaffordable there, so we ought to be focused on the underlying cost so healthcare premiums go down naturally."

In Wichita Monday, Eyewitness News also asked Moran about when Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback may have his confrimation hearing before the full Senate. Brownback is President Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religous Freedom."

Moran says there's not a question of if Brownback will get confirmed. The biggest hold up for when it will happen, he says, is that there are many confirmations in line ahead of Brownback. Moran says it could be a month or two before the vote happens. 

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