Still No Word From Callahan on Health Care Reform ... or Anything Else

LV Congressman Charlie Dent's NO vote on Pelosi care has drawn the ire of some of his constituents. In the Morning Call letter-to-the-editor, one reader chides Dent for caving in to Big Insurance. And blogger Rylock is convinced Charlie has sold out to Big Insurance because, after all, he ... gasp! ... has accepted contributions from them.

Last election cycle, it was Big Oil. I think some people spotted him driving a tanker one night. He must have been laid off.

Actually, one of the reasons Dent voted against Pelosi care is precisely because it does cater to the insurance industry. In the news release explaining his NO vote, Dent says this. “It’s bad for Americans because it won’t reduce health care costs — in fact many will see increased costs — and it will cause millions of working Americans to lose their current coverage." And this. "We can enact strong insurance market reforms that provide consumer protections and promote transparency."

As explained in The New Yorker, hardly known as a conservative publication, "The White House has reached a deal with the big health insurers, such as Aetna and CIGNA. In return for the industry’s agreeing to cover people with pre-existing health conditions, and making various other more minor concessions, the government will force more than twenty million new customers into its arms."

Our health care system is broken for two reasons. First, too many people are uncovered. Second, it's too costly. Although Pelosi care addresses the lack of coverage, it falls on its face when it comes to addressing our spiralling health care costs. Sure, a C.B.O. analysis promises savings by reducing Medicare payments, but does anyone really believes this? Once again, as explained in The New Yorker, "For decades now, Congress has been promising to reduce the growth of Medicare outlays, and yet every year they continue to go up. The reasons are straightforward: the population is aging; seniors are politically active; and health-care treatments, particularly for the aging, continue to evolve in complex and costly ways."

Pelosi care is nonsense. But instead of responding to bloggers and letter writers, shouldn't we really know how Congressional candidate John Callahan feels about this burning issue? Dent is attacked by Callahan supporters for taking a stand on an issue that will impact our grandchildren, while they have no problem with his silence.

The Callahan Silence Clock started ticking as of August 14, 2009 when he was first approached by a reporter regarding his stand on health care and he bravely responded with a “no comment.”

Now that his mayoral election and Musikfest are over and he’s down to running for just one office instead of two, you’d think he’d start telling the people he means to represent just what he stands for – but no. Callahan either is unwilling or unable to provide a simple answer to the most pressing question before not just the people in the 15th Congressional District but to the entire country.

“Maybe it’s smart politics to avoid controversial issues, but it sure isn’t the kind of leadership people want in Washington,” says Dent campaign manager Shawn Millan. “Once you’re a candidate you owe answers. Pat Toomey, challenger for Senate, talks about issues regularly. Even Siobhan Bennett, in her disastrous run, at least talked about issues while running for Congress from the start. John won’t tell anybody anything about why he wants to be in Congress, let alone why anyone except Nancy Pelosi would want him there.”