The Eye

Moderated by Muhlenberg College political scientist Christopher Borick, the debate allowed for questions from a ticketed audience of a few hundred people about the issue that has dominated discussion during the August congressional recess.

In keeping with his standard stump speech, Sestak noted in his opening statement that he received excellent health care during his 31-year career in the Navy and that he entered politics after his young daughter was stricken with brain cancer.

Sestak charged that Toomey would "just continue to have the insurance companies decide how to ration our care, how they will set the requirements, how they will dictate the prices, denying coverage to those who have pre-existing conditions."

Sestak, who voted for the bill that the House Education and Labor Committee approved in July, said that he believes in a health care overhaul that is "dependent on the marketplace, so once again we can restore fair, competitive bidding."

Toomey said that he supports "commonsense, bipartisan reforms" to lower health care costs and improve access. He said that businesses should be able to pool their resources to purchase insurance and individuals should be allowed to purchase insurance across state lines.

"But what I can't support is this gigantic, thousand-page bill that is really just chock-full of all kinds of new big-government mandates," Toomey said, claiming that it includes "a trillion dollars of new spending at a time when we can't afford it."

Though the Obama administration has been pushing Congress to pass a bill quickly, Toomey urged caution. "We shouldn't rush into remaking one-sixth of our economy. Let's take our time; let's do this right."

Sestak also said that he wanted more competition in the health care industry, but that there needed to be rules to promote transparency and fairness. He bemoaned the lack of regulation over Wall Street firms preceding the financial crisis.

"My take on this is, there just has to be fair play on the competitive field, and that's all we're trying to do in this case," Sestak said.

Toomey said that a health overhaul effort should address limits to the medical malpractice lawsuits that he said have contributed to "driving doctors out of Pennsylvania" and is "discouraging people from entering the field of medicine." Sestak said that "none of us want frivolous lawsuits" but that litigation adds just one-half of 1 percent to the cost of health care.

One point of disagreement came over the cost of the House bill. Sestak said that it "doesn't add a cent to the debt," but Toomey's campaign pointed to a Congressional Budget Office analysis that said the bill would add $239 billion to the deficit over the next decade.

CQ Politics rates the Pennsylvania Senate race as Leans Democratic, which indicates the Democrats have a slight edge at the moment but that the race should be highly competitive.

To see how the 2010 Senate races are shaping up, check out the CQ Politics' election map.