Monday, March 01, 2010

Which candidates have your back?

* The LATimes did a story on the problems that arise on overdue medical bills. In the article, Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15th-Democrat) is praised for her legislative efforts to help consumers:

....Physicians and hospitals may be unlikely to report a patient to a credit bureau, but the collection agencies to whom they turn usually won't hesitate to do so.

Even if eventually paid in full, a bill that's been sent for collection remains on your record for up to seven years and can affect your credit worthiness, says U.S. Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D- Ohio). She's introduced legislation, the Medical Debt Relief Act, that would prohibit lenders from factoring in fully paid or settled medical debt when determining a consumer's credit score.

Those scores are used by banks and other lenders when making decisions on whether to lend money or extend a credit card or mortgage to a borrower. The legislation would require that delinquent medical accounts be removed from a consumer's credit report within 30 days of being paid in full....

While Kilroy works on legislation to help and protect her constituents, right wing candidates complain that this type of legislation is too liberal. I guess for some people, they'd rather have a person in Congress who will protect the profits of insurance companies, bankers, and their big shot contributors.

**** Business First did an interview with John Kasich, former director at Lehman Brothers, and Republican candidate:

With the confidence of a politician who has been there and done that, gubernatorial candidate John Kasich moved down his checklist for what state government must do to reverse Ohio’s economic slide.....

....Kasich will need to address the withering criticism he is getting from Democrats on his proposal to eliminate the state income tax. The Ohio Democratic Party has been blasting him on the issue at every turn in the campaign, claiming his tax-cut plan would create a $12 billion revenue shortfall for state government by 2012 and force massive spending cuts on everything from education to safety net programs for the poor, sick and elderly.

But Kasich said he favors a gradual phase-out of the income tax done in a “responsible way,” coupling it with reforms to streamline state government and improve Ohio’s business climate....

In my humble opinion, I'd call it hubris. Kasich has an ego the size of the state. He is unwilling to give details but he is the happiest when he can talk, and talk, and talk, and talk, and talk even more. Kasich thinks he can make state employees go away, sell off state land, tinker with the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, take power away from unions, and feed public tax money to unqualified charter schools, and no one will say or do anything to stop him. Kasich thinks he'll have the power of a dictator, instead of an elected official.


* Raw Story is reporting that Republican Rep. Eric Cantor gave some valuable information to David Gregory:

....Gregory asked a panel to comment on what he called the fundamental tension of the health reform debate.....

"The reality is Republicans do care about health care," Cantor replied. "We want to address the first and most foundational element which is cost. Because if we can bring down cost, more people can access care. But we also know that there is something we can do to get people more uninsured."

Let me repeat Cantor's line-----

".....we also know that there is something we can do to get people more uninsured."

While Cantor, Boehner, and Mitchell complain about the costs of health care reform, they continue to dress like wealthy, elite, country club members. They don't feel your pain.