Rep. Eric Massa (NY-D) - Elitist or Fascist?

Recently, Rep. Eric Massa (NY-D) was caught on tape explaining to a group at Net Roots that he would vote for the Healthcare Bill even if it wasn’t in the best interest of his constituents. He even went a step further, when asked if his district was 80% against the bill, “would he still vote for it?” He answered, “Yes.”




Click here to watch the video

Elitism is when someone thinks they are better than everyone else. Fascism is when a small group of people feel the general population can’t make decisions for themselves. My question to you is, “Which is Rep. Massa?” He surely isn’t a Democrat in the truest sense of the word. This is the type of people who are ruining our political system. They sell themselves as the people’s candidate, but instead they could care less about the citizens. What they want is to further their own causes and those of the special interest groups that finance them.

Dean tells the truth about Tort Reform

Finally, they admitted what has been obvious to so many of us.

Howard Dean said, “The reason tort reform is not in the [health care] bill is because the people who wrote it did not want to take on the trial lawyers in addition to everybody else they were taking on. And that’s the plain and simple truth.”

This is what I have been saying for months. Our congressional leaders are being led by the nose by PACs, 527's, and other special interest groups. There is no question that "We the People" are taking a back seat. If they really wanted to lower healthcare costs, in turn make it available to more people, then the easy four steps would be:

1. Tort Reform
2. Interstate Competition
3. Manage Illegal Immigration
4. Dislocate the Employer - Insurer relationship

The best part is they could do these one at a time and measure the success of each one. It would create the change we need and at the same time not muddy the waters with issues of control or partisanship.

Healthcare Bill - Eliminate Defensive Medicine

The right and the left have both gone out of bounds. Rep. Pelosi saying that it is un-American to voice your complaint with the healthcare bill and Sarah Palin talking about “Death Panels”; they should both be ashamed of themselves. The healthcare bill is supposed to make healthcare insurance more affordable and more available. Balderdash!!

Our entire Congress should be investigated for bribery. Why is there no conversation on Tort Reform? Where is it in the bill? Politicians know where their bread is buttered. They don’t want to risk the hundreds of millions of dollars tossed into campaign coffers every year by the Legal industry. It’s just another example of big business buying votes.

For those of you who say, “…reducing malpractice insurance won’t make that big a difference…” I say, “Show me the facts.” The legal costs are the small part of the equation, although PointofLaw.com recently cited that previous estimates of the overall impact of Tort Reform were greatly understated. The real issue is that our medical professionals have taken to practicing Defensive Medicine.

Defensive Medicine is the practice of ordering tests and procedures that aren’t necessary, but protect the medical professionals from the possibility of a lawsuit. In 2005, the Journal of the American Medical Association said that 93% of specialists in Pennsylvania admitted to practicing Defensive Medicine. In Massachusetts, a 2008 survey showed that 25% of all imaging tests were purely for defensive purposes. Although it is hard to quantify, because it has become so pervasive within the medical establishment, it is estimated to have increased overall medical care costs by between $100B and $200B. Even on the low side it comes to almost a 10% savings in healthcare costs, yet we don’t even hear a whisper.