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Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Lewis to black lawmakers: ‘Barack Obama is my friend, too’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We weren’t there, but we’re told that on Monday night, U.S. Rep. John Lewis popped in at the Legislative Black Caucus’ annual soul food dinner at the Depot near the state Capitol.
Lewis prompted a noisy reaction — cheers for the congressman as well as shouts of support for Barack Obama. Neither shook the civil rights icon into clarifying whether he’s switched sides in the Democratic presidential contest.
State Rep. Stan Watson (D-Decatur) told our AJC colleague Stephanie Reid that Lewis left him with the impression that he’s now siding with Obama.
But state Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta) said that, in the congressman’s minute-long address, Lewis gave absolutely no indication that he has abandoned Hillary Clinton.
Lewis did acknowledge the enthusiasm that Obama has stirred. Local journalist Maynard Eaton, who also attended the event, offered this take: “His first words were, ‘Barack Obama is my friend, too.’”
Eaton said that afterwards, Lewis declined to elaborate.
McKinney seeks access to Georgia’s presidential ballot
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
She’s baaaaaaack! But not to run for Congress.
Former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, now seeking the presidential nomination of the Green Party, was campaigning in Washington Tuesday and told our colleague Scott MacFarlane of Cox Broadcasting that she’s working to get her name on Georgia’s 2008 presidential ballot.
McKinney, a former Democrat, lost her bid for a seventh congressional term in 2006 after she got into an altercation with a Capitol police officer. She left Georgia shortly after that, bound for California.
Still, there were those in Dekalb County who wondered - Hoped? Feared? - if she’d return to Georgia to challenge the man who took her seat, Rep. Hank Johnson. But McKinney now says that’s not going to happen.
“There are a lot of people in the state of Georgia who’d like to see me go back to Congress,” McKinney said. “But what I’m learning is that there are a lot of people in New York, Massachusetts, California, and Wisconsin who’d like to see me do this job first.”
The Green Party needs 40,000 petition signatures to get its nominee on Georgia’s ballot. So far, it has fewer than 3,000.
Chamber to Senate: Don’t pretend that health care in Georgia obeys the rules of the market
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Earlier today, we told you that Senate Majority Leader Tommie Williams (R-Lyons) had publicly wondered why the Georgia Chamber of Commerce was opposing a private cancer hospital’s entry into the state.
Not long afterwards, the business organization put a lengthy explanation of its position on the desk of every state senator.
Said the Chamber:
“We often hear it argued that free market principles should be applied to health care. But unfortunately, health care in the U.S. does not respond to the free market, since 60 to 70 percent of reimbursements to hospitals and fees to physicians are Medicaid or Medicare…
“The Georgia Chamber of Commerce believes that, until market forces can be brought to bear in these cases, there should be no erosion of the [certificate of need] program in any area. For that reason, we oppose the efforts of Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) to obfuscate the CON process,” says the letter from Chamber president and CEO George Israel.
Read the entire letter on the jump.
February 19, 2008
Dear Senator,
At a meeting on January 14, 2008, the Board of Directors of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce overwhelmingly reaffirmed its support of the Certificate of Need (CON) program. I wanted to make you aware of the rationale that led to this decision by our Board.
Over the last four years, whenever we surveyed our members, we found healthcare costs were the number one concern of both self-insured and insured employers. Most have witnessed double-digit cost increases.
There is also a growing concern about access to quality healthcare. Many of our members were disturbed last year when they read that some local hospitals were financially at risk. We learned that as many as 90 Georgia hospitals, many of them in rural areas, were operating at a loss. The publicity surrounding Grady Hospital only serves to reinforce this concern. Our members know that only solvent hospitals can recruit and retain physicians as staff members.
Georgians also know how important hospitals are to their local economy. When healthy and thriving, they can have a significant positive impact on local communities; if for no other reason, they are quite often the largest employer in the county. They attract physicians to the area and support a wide range of ancillary vendors and suppliers.
We often hear it argued that free market principles should be applied to healthcare. But unfortunately, healthcare in the U.S. does not respond to the free market, since 60-70% of reimbursements to hospitals and fees to physicians are Medicaid or Medicare. Only 20-30% is self-pay, insured pay or from a self-insured employer’s third-party administrator. Because of reductions in government reimbursements over the past decade, employers turned to managed care to help them stabilize and reduce “cost shift.” Together, lower reimbursements and managed care have put hospitals in a very difficult position and reduced fees to physicians, resulting in a situation where hospitals are too often pitted against doctors.
Physicians want to be allowed to perform general surgical procedures in an office or clinic setting, bypassing the hospital. This would effectively deny hospitals one of the very few profitable product/service lines they have to offset the losses resulting from Medicaid, Medicare and covering the uninsured. This practice is not currently allowed under CON, which physician groups favor abolishing.
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce believes that, until market forces can be brought to bear in these cases, there should be no erosion of the CON program in any area. For that reason, we oppose the efforts of Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) to obfuscate the CON process.
We congratulate and support your efforts to close the gap in Medicaid reimbursements. If hospitals are made whole in Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements and a way can be found to insure more of our fellow citizens who are currently uninsured, we might then reach a point where true market forces can be utilized, which would be our sincere hope.
It is important to protect one of Georgia’s most critical existing industries — our hospital employers — from potential competitors that wish to change the rules in mid-stream, especially at a time when many of our community providers are at financial risk. Georgia’s existing cancer treatment facilities provide outstanding, first-class service to our state and region — in fact, to the nation — and they have invested millions and millions in the very same treatment technologies as CTCA. It is only fair and equitable that all new entrants to this area be subject to the same procedures as their predecessors.
Thank you for your leadership and friendship.
Sincerely,
George M. Israel, III
President & CEO
Says Superdelegate Carter: ‘We’ll try to hold the party together’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Albany Herald reports today that Democratic superdelegate Jimmy Carter is keeping mum when it comes to whether he’ll cast his vote for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.
The former U.S. president said he has his favorite, but declined to make it public during Presidential Day festivities in Plains. (Remember that Carter appeared at a John Edwards event last year.)
But Carter seems to think that the 790 superdelegates, who will make up about one-fifth of the votes at the Democratic National Convention, will make sure the final tally is decisive enough to avoid any split.
“One of the main candidates, either Clinton or Obama, will be a big majority,” Carter said. “We’ll try to hold the party together.”
Williams: It ain’t good business for a Chamber to say no to business
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Senate Majority Leader Tommie Williams (R-Lyons) is shaking its finger at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce for its opposition to a standalone, private cancer treatment center that’s trying to push past state regulators and into Atlanta.
S.B. 433 would give an exception to the cancer hospital — based on its promise that most patients would come from out of state. The bill is to come up for a Senate floor vote late this week or early next week.
Williams points to an e-mail from a Georgia Hospital Association lobbyist, giving advice to hospital executives on what to say to state senators:
“I encourage you to tell your Senators that the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and its Board of Directors are 100 percent with us on this issue. Oftentimes, the Chamber position makes it a little easier for a lawmaker to make up his or her mind, as the Legislature is comprised mostly of business people,” says the e-mail from GHA lobbyist Earl Rogers.
The GHA says it’s opposing the legislation because of the precedent it would set.
But the Senate majority leader thinks the Chamber’s opposition is odd. Why would the business organization oppose a business — and a wealthy one, to boot — that wants to come into the state?
Williams is entirely willing to provide the answer to his own question. He’s counted about 20 hospitals, medical chains and other interests that are listed as “cornerstone” donors on the Chamber’s web site, which means they donate at least $10,500 annually.
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