LA CROSSE, Wis. -- WISC-TV's political reporter Jessica Arp is hitting the road, traveling statewide and taking WISC-TV's campaign coverage in depth.

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Last week she stopped in Kimberly, Merrill, Beloit and Tuesday she went to La Crosse.

In each community WISC-TV has stopped in, there's been a defining feature -- in La Crosse it's not only that it lies in the Mississippi River Valley -- it's that health care makes up a major part of the community making the need for reform a swing issue.

The community of La Crosse has no shortage of medical resources -- two major hospitals serve not only the 50,000 here but hundreds of thousands more in the region.

But for some residents like Lois McHenry-Nemec, the Saint Clare Health Mission is her only option.

"My husband had insurance, and then maybe four days ago he got laid off from his job," said McHenry-Nemec. "So I'm actually the only one working right now at the current time and I have OCD, I've had it all my life."

She ran out of her medication just days ago and to the uninsured, the volunteer-run organization also provides free care.

McNenry-Nemec has spent much of her life without health insurance. For her, health care reform is a swing issue.

"Sometimes a husband and wife may look like they make money, chances are they're paying in so much money that they don't have enough to get the proper health care," said McHenry-Nemec.

Doctor Amanda Strosahl, a Gundersen Lutheran doctor who volunteers at the mission, agrees.

"Clearly people need health insurance and health insurance needs to be independent of employment," said Strosahl. "That's why a lot of these people don't have insurance is because they don't have a job or they don't have a job that provides insurance."

The costs of that insurance to patients, employers and even hospitals are something leaders in the industry are paying attention to.

Hospitals are losing money helping Medicare patients. Gundersen Lutheran CEO doctor Jeff Thompson said they wouldn't if politicians would focus on reforms in payments.

"We believe that if payment changed and went toward high quality and keeping people healthy then we would do very well compared to folks around the country and Wisconsin as a whole would do well," said Thompson.

He said access for all to health care is key to driving costs down that's what the mission tries to do in part but the hope is it won't be needed in the future.

"We need their to not have to be free health clinics we need to be able to provide this in a regular clinic setting," said Strosahl.

"Its actually really nice because its something you know I do work but it's something that you know is there when you need it," said McHenry-Nemec.

McHenry-Nemec said even when she's had insurance, her preexisting condition has left her with additional out-of-pocket health costs and she'd like to see a change in the system to not discriminate against those who need additional care.

And there's other issues some of these health experts are working on a lot of issues that they'd like to help drive down costs.

Thompson is the board chair of the Wisconsin Collaborative for Health Care Quality. He said they're looking at how things like electronic records or transparency in the total value of your health care, not just procedures, could help drive down costs.

He suggests the candidates surround themselves with experts from not only health care but business and government and be bold enough to find solutions.