Tom Hayhurst, of Fort Wayne, made the decision to run for third district congressman under the Democratic ticket last summer.

Since then, he said the idea of a better health care program has motivated him to continue his campaign. Being a doctor for more than 30 years, Hayhurst acknowledged the importance of affordable and accessible medication and surgical procedures.

He labeled the new Medicare program as a "step in the right direction," but said complications stemming from gaps in coverage are a concern.

"Good legislation should be as clear and simple as possible," Hayhurst said. "I feel we have better options for treatments."

Hayhurst plans to encourage the government to allow the health care market to negotiate for prices both in the United States and internationally.

"I've been heavily involved in medicine," Hayhurst said. "I've seen sad cases, where people are literally dying because of holding off due to financial reasons.

"Everybody in other markets compete, and the pharmaceutical companies need to do this, too. It's a no-cost way to lower prices."

Currently, Hayhurst works at the Allen County Tuberculosis Clinic in Fort Wayne, and helped found the Matthew 25 Health & Dental Clinic, Fort Wayne.

"I'm a firm believer that here in the U.S., everyone should have health care. It shouldn't be a uniform federal program, just facilitated by our government," he said. "Look for answers with less tax dollars."

Along the lines of better health care, Hayhurst also hopes to maintain and improve the medical services available to Indiana veterans.

Having served in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War and helping to start the Veterans for Better Health Care, Hayhurst plans to urge local government to preserve in-patient beds for veterans in the Fort Wayne area.

"I've always honored our veterans," Hayhurst said. "Veterans for Better Health Care is a bi-partisan group doing good things for veterans in the community. Some of the things we're fighting for should have never gotten to this point in the first place."

Along with his strong support for U.S. veterans, Hayhurst also said he hopes to provide strong support for the working families of Indiana. He said the middle class is shrinking, due to lack of governmental assistance.

"Sometimes I'm in my car on the highway and I wonder where we'd be without the middle class," Hayhurst said. "And I think we'd be in a corn field somewhere, but that wouldn't be true, because we wouldn't have corn. We'd be sitting in the middle of a swamp."

Hayhurst said he will encourage better trade agreements with countries such as China, which have advantages over the U.S. in terms of import and export prices, if he is elected. Ideally, he would establish initial trade agreements which imposed researched regulations on all countries.

"It's already a tough playing field with some polluting their waters and abusing their workers without any type of control or regulation," Hayhurst said. "That's close to impossible to compete with and the middle class is ultimately feeling the effects.

"I believe we're not caring enough about middle-class workers."

Hayhurst currently is conducting door-to-door meetings of residents in the third district. He said he's more interested in hearing what individual Hoosiers have to say than what he himself thinks. Another big challenge at this point is the organization of his campaign group, which is estimated to total more than 500 volunteers.

"I'm the citizen legislator who's putting himself on the line," Hayhurst said.

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