One of four Democratic candidates for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District visited Jefferson Wednesday.

Dr. John Paschen and his family moved to Camanche, Iowa from Illinois when he was in middle school. He attended Iowa State University where he received his undergraduate degree and then graduated from medical school at the University of Iowa. He did his residency in pediatrics and a fellowship program at the University of Minnesota. Having knowledge in healthcare, Dr. Paschen believes the Affordable Care Act doesn’t need repealing, it needs improvement.

“We need to refinance it. They have these cost-saving resources that have allowed insurance companies to offer insurance policies at a lower rate. I also want to bring in what’s called the ‘public option.’ Basically what it did was it allowed people to buy into Medicare if there was no other choice for them.”

For immigration, Dr. Paschen talked about making immigrants have a path to citizenship and make them pay a fee for several years before they obtain legal citizenship. He also addressed the issue with the most recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida. He points out that they must support sportsman and hunters, along with those possessing firearms for home defense.

“But we do not have to support weapons of mass destruction like assault rifles. We need to make sure that the laws governing background checks are tightened up, adhere to and loopholes taken away. We need to make the NRA (National Rifle Association) a badge of shame for anyone who associates themselves with it.”

Dr. Paschen is running against Paul Dahl, Leann Jacobsen, and JD Scholten for the Democratic nomination against Republican Steve King for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District.