Campaigning Early, Congressional Candidate Ami Bera Reaches Out To Elk Grove
Full Audio Available With less than twelve months to go to the primary election, Dr. Ami Bera, MD of Elk Grove is wasting no time in spreadi...
https://www.elkgrovenews.net/2009/07/campaigning-early-congressional.html
Full Audio Available
With less than twelve months to go to the primary election, Dr. Ami Bera, MD of Elk Grove is wasting no time in spreading the word on his fledgling campaign to be the Democratic nominee to take on three term Republican Dan Lungren for California’s third congressional district.
As part of this effort, Bera held a ‘community chat’ in Elk Grove last night at the Wackford Community Center. As a physician, much of candidate’s discussion focused on the current health care reform initiative being debated in Washington DC.
Bera said that health care reform is one of the nation’s biggest challenges and should be addressed now rather than pushing it off on future generations.
“This has to be about something bigger than ourselves,” he said.
After his opening comments, Bera opened the meeting to questions from people in attendance. While much of the discussion focused on health care, Bera fielded questions on education, the war in Iraq and the economy.
At times the meeting took on the tone of a strategy meeting. Once participant, citing noted linguist George Lakoff, suggested that the term “health insurance reform” should be used instead of “health care reform.”
When asked about why he thinks he can win, Bera pointed out that he outpaced Lungren is fundraising in the first six months of the year and the shifting demographic makeup of the district. He also pointed out that Lungren’s funding included $12,000 from health insurance political action committees and from defense contractors and big pharmaceutical companies.
One attendee asked Bera if he had the qualities to beat Lungren who she characterized as a “career politician who is particularly nasty.”
“I won’t do this if I didn’t think I could win,” Bera said. “The way we win this election is by everyone being engaged.”
Before Bera has the opportunity to take on Lungren, he must face Democrat challengers Gary Davis of Elk Grove and Bill Slaton of Sacramento in the primary election.
Full audio here
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Bera is taking this seriously and will beat Lungren. He is campaigning full time which sets him apart from the other Democratic candidates. He also has the most money and that will continue. Dr. Bera will bring needed changes to the politics of Washington.
Fifteen months is a long time away. By that time health care reform will have been settled, hopefully! I need to know more about where he stands on fixing the economy, Iraq, Roe vs Wade, to name a few. Is he going to have a website so he can communicate with his fellow Demos.better? Good luck Dr. Bera!
www.beraforcongress.com
He is a great candidate, because as a physician, and someone in his specialty of primary care, you have to listen to people, take the facts, diagnose and have a plan of action.
The problem with politicians is that they just like to talk and have an opinion on everything, and answer for every problem. When you ask them why they have not done anything about it, they always blame the other party.
I think we need to have fresh people in politics that are not there for their own self interest.
Plus, politicians run for office because they get paid well. Dr Bera is getting a pay cut to be a politician, so he is not doing it for the money.
Gary Davis can't get a job in private industry, and Lungran is dirty like a cess pool.
This is not intended as a slap against Dr. Bera, he may be a fine man and a fine physician, I don't know him so I can't say. However, I take exception to the notion that it's a good idea to give Dr's. very much say in how any reform of health care might be shaped.
The problem with our medical industry in this country is it is profit driven and the "expansion of market" has become the most important goal of the industry. The current employer/HMO based system has limited the potential market growth and therefore limited the potential for profit growth. This, more than anything else is what is driving the call for "change".
Have you ever wondered why there is a Walgreens or Rite Aid either in place or under construction at virtually every intersection in Elk Grove? It's because US Dr's. are trained by US drug companies to push product and by the AMA to push procedures. Dr's may claim it's "defensive medicine" but it is also very profitable. If you are going to practice drug pushing you need to have as many outlets as possible. Elk Grove is on it's way to being the prescription drug capital of the world at the rate they are throwing up those stores.
Left to themselves the AMA would see to it that everyone in the country had a permenent Lipitor prescription and a colonoscopy every five minutes to comply with Federal regulations. That's how you get rich in this country today, you develop a medical device or drug and you get your buddies in government to make it a mandatory requirement on penalty of "loss of priveledges" of some sort or another on the part of the patient if they fail to comply.
For this reason I rarely visit my Dr. though he is a fine man, because he is also a drug "pusher" and he is a drug pusher because the drug companies trained him to be one. I know, I've been seeing this guy a long time and I have watched the change happen before my eyes.
If you are someone who happilly pops a pill every time your Dr. tells you to I'm sorry if I have offended you. But the fact is the stuff they are giving you isn't good for you and the less you take of it the better you will feel.
And no, I have no connection to the medical field at all other than to be a very reluctant consumer on the most infrequent basis possible...
Giving career politicians and carpetbaggers like Lungren and Davis is scarrier!
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