Today Houston Mayor Bill White made the official move to run in the Democratic primary for Texas Governor. Hank Gilbert decided to switch races and run for Agriculture Commissioner instead of Governor, leaving Bill White as the frontrunner battling it out with CHI founder, Farouk Shami, and Kinky Friedman, as well as Felix Alvarado and Bill Dear. John Sharp is waiting out the race for Kay Bailey Hutchinson's seat. Those in Judicial races have also been swapping places which leaves Karen Sage and Cliff Brown now both unopposed for the time being although Mindy Montford is considering joining the race for retiring Judge Baird. This election season is full of surprises.
Today we are faced with another fear-based debate about whether or not the Guananomo Bay Detainees should be housed in US prisons and be given their days in court. If you were to believe the rhetoric from the Republican partisans, America has never faced such danger from any other past enemy or based decisions during wartime on human rights, the Constitution and international law. The reality is, of course, that we have been faced with all these things before and our values cannot be compromised especially in challenging times. The Supreme Court decisions upholding habeas corpus rights for these detainees is evidence that we, as a people, have a firm belief in the Constitution and our role as model for international law and human rights.
Tonight we witnessed a landmark vote for our generation, 220-215. Never again will people be turned down from health insurance due to pre-existing conditions. Never again will Americans go bankrupt due to health care crisis. Never again will our health care be based on our continued employment. Never again will we stand by and watch our neighbors die from lack of access to affordable health care.
This was an historic day that we've worked towards for decades, and now we are one step closer to achieving total victory. We now wait for the Senate version and then the process to combine them into the final law.
Last night's election results were less a referendum on the Democratic Party, and more a referendum on incumbents and limitless campaign spending. Exit polls showed that the number one concern of voters was the economy and jobs, and the voters themselves said that their vote was not about the performance of the President. The candidates pouring money into their own campaigns, spending millions of dollars to win, only reminded the voters of the vast gap between the rich and poor in America. In several races, those spending the most, did not win. Here in Texas, in the race for Houston Mayor, Annise Parker came in first after being outspent 5:1 by her challenger. While the latest poll averages from realclearpolitics.com show that the President's approval is still high at 51.4%, the approval of Congress is only at 24.8%, and of those polled only 38.8% think that America is on the right track. At this time of economic hardship, high unemployment, and job insecurity, the voters across the country voted out incumbents, those seen as contributing to our economic conditions, and voted for change.
These election results offer hope and inspiration to those of us challenging long-time sitting Republican incumbents with their own large war chests, such as Lamar Smith. Americans are ready for a change, ready for Representatives who will take action and represent their interests, not the special interests. It is time for Representatives to find solutions to our most critical issues, create and grow jobs, and put our country back on the right track. That is precisely what I will do when I am elected in 2010.
If you feel that your voice isn't being heard, if you are tired of the failed policies of Lamar Smith, and if you have a vision for a better tomorrow, then please join me in taking action to win in 2010. Go to my website, http://www.laineyforcongress.com, and contribute to my campaign, join our team, add your endorsement and spread the word that we have a winnable race in Texas Congressional District 21.
Under the McCarran-Ferguson Act, passed by Congress in 1945, the Insurance Industry became one of the few industries to be exempt from federal antitrust laws. Other industries that have similar exemptions include railroads, major league baseball, agricultural and fishing cooperatives, and maritime shipping.
To ensure that health insurance issuers and medical malpractice insurance issuers cannot engage in price fixing, bid rigging, or market allocations to the detriment of competition and consumers, the House Judiciary Committee has voted on HR 3596, the Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009. The House Judiciary Committee's vote (20-9) to send H.R. 3596 to the floor provides a significant spur to competition in health insurance.
But while House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith states that he supports health care reform that brings greater competition through purchasing insurance across state lines, he is one of the 9 opposed to repealing this federal antitrust exemption. His contradictory reasoning is that the states should retain their status as the regulators of the insurance industry without "inviting federal intervention."
Could the real reason for his inconsistency be that the insurance industry is among the top 5 industries to contribute to his political campaign, according to opensecrets.org?
Lamar Smith has not only voted to help his contributors, but he is leading the fight against health care reform. He has continued to cite studies from Harvard School of Public Health to support his claim that Tort Reform is the best answer to health care reform. But he ignores the fact that the Harvard study that he cites, concludes the exact opposite.
"Some critics have suggested that the malpractice system is inundated with groundless lawsuits, and that whether a plaintiff recovers money is like a random 'lottery,' virtually unrelated to whether the claim has merit," said lead author David Studdert, associate professor of law and public health at Harvard School of Public Health. "These findings cast doubt on that view by showing that most malpractice claims involve medical error and serious injury, and that claims with merit are far more likely to be paid than claims without merit."
A separate study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Synthesis Project reviewing the effects of the impacts of state tort reforms concluded that the deteriorating liability environment has had only a modest effect on the supply of physician services. Aside from caps on noneconomic damages, most tort reforms adopted by states in response to malpractice crises have not been effective in boosting physician supply or reducing insurance or litigation costs.
Michelle Mello, an associate professor of health policy and law at Harvard School of Public Health further explained that damages caps "help constrain growth in litigation costs and insurance premiums over time, but disproportionately burden the most severely injured patients."
Lamar Smith is using flawed logic to support positions that benefit his big insurance contributors, and is putting politics before people.
If you're concerned that your voice isn't being heard, if you're tired of the failed policies of Lamar Smith, and if you have a vision for a better tomorrow, then join me, Lainey Melnick, in taking action to win in 2010. Please go to laineyforcongress.com, make a contribution, join our team of volunteers and spread the word that we have a winnable race in the 21st.
Please join us at the Environmentalists for Lainey Melnick House Party, hosted by Robin Rather and Melinda Taylor, Tuesday Oct 27th, 6-7:30 pm at 5018 Shoal Creek Blvd. RSVP at http://www.actblue.com/page/en...
