Two Sioux City Republicans seeking their party's nomination for governor have squared off over the state's proper role in health-care reform.

Rep. Chris Rants criticized businessman Bob Vander Plaats' health-care plan unveiled at GOP events over the weekend as "the proverbial cure that's worse than the cold."

Vander Plaats called President Barack Obama's health-care reform a "debacle" that would cost Iowans their freedom. His cure would be for Iowa to go it alone.

"It's time we have a governor who will stand up for the 10th amendment and Iowa's sovereignty from the federal government and say, 'We will run our own health care in the state of Iowa. We will not let the government run our health care for us,' " Vander Plaats said at a Dallas County GOP picnic.

Rants jumped on that idea, suggesting it could double the size of the state budget.

"I don't think Bob has any idea just how much it would cost to have the state government take over the Medicare system, and all of Medicaid," said Rants, the former speaker of the House and a legislator since 1992. "It would cost $2 billion for Medicaid and $3.3 billion for Medicare. Iowans can't afford it, not now, not ever."

He's using data provided by Kaiser's Statehealthfacts.org, which reported there are 504,944 Iowans on Medicare each getting an average of $6,572 for a total of more than $3.3 billion. On average, Medicaid is a two-for-one match with the state putting $1 billion into the program.

On Wednesday, Vander Plaats dismissed the attack as "more of the same from a career politician."

Obama and congressional Democrats want to push more health-care costs onto the states, Vander Plaats said. "I'm making the point that they want socialized medicine and I'm saying, 'What happens if you move the pendulum the other way? What if you take the federal government out of it and leave the money here?'"

Vander Plaats favors a greater emphasis on preventive care, more insurance coverage pooling, liability reform and medical savings and health savings accounts.

Candidates for the June 2010 primary election must file their nomination papers by March.