Eliminating 'Defensive Medicine' Will Save Billions, Says Gingrich

By Benny Martinez - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Nearly one quarter of all health care costs are derived from the practice of ‘defensive medicine,’ according to a recent Gallup poll.

In a press briefing Monday, a panel of experts talked with reporters about the impact of such practices on the nation’s economy.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) defined the practice as “doctors who are doing something that is not driven by medical necessity but is driven by a culture of fear because of the pervasiveness of trial lawyer...you have ads [on TV] that say, let’s find somebody that has money so that we can go sue.”

Gingrich said that the issue of reducing defensive medicine is a platform that must be considered during President Barack Obama’s health care summit this Thursday. According to the Gallup poll, $625 billion is spent annually on defensive medicine.

“If we could simply adopt modest reforms to begin to make the culture of defensive behavior go away, we save 20 percent,” Gingrich said. “That’s 105 billion a year, [and], over the ten years the President is trying to save money for health insurance reform, is over a trillion dollars.”

U.S., Iraq Hoping For Successful Election

By Benny Martinez - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

In nearly two weeks, the Iraqi nation will hit the polls in its second national election since the U.S. invasion in 2003.

After seven years of service in Iraq, the U.S. military will shift its role from combatant to advise-and-assist, and a recall of American soldiers is scheduled for August of 2010, said U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill in a briefing on Wednesday. The Middle-eastern country’s national elections and success will be a key factor in the role the U.S. military will play, he said.

“I think a key element of this is to have successful elections,” Hill said. “The alternative is not very nice, it’s a very unsuccessful process with a very uncertain future.”

There are 325 seats to fill in the Iraqi parliament, over 6,000 candidates and millions of voters. There remains a division among Sunni and Shi’a citizens, and the presence of the Ba’ath Party still causes controversy in Iraqi politics, Hill said.

Hill said he remains confident that the elections will end in success, attributing such optimism to the increasing number of campaign posters being placed throughout the streets of Baghdad.

Even with a successful election, the Ambassador said that help is still necessary to ensure prosperity in Iraq. He said that, in addition to the $200 million in funding for this year’s election, there are three things the U.S. still needs to do in Iraq to ensure the country’s stability and security.

“We must help Iraq build healthy political and democratic institutions... we must help Iraq modernize its economy, [without it] it’s not going to work... [and] we must help Iraq establish a productive relationship with its neighbors,” Hill said. “In so doing, we can secure Iraq’s role as, not only a reliable partner, but a strategic partner for the U.S.”

Theme Of President's Economic Report: Rescue, Rebalance, and Rebuild

By Benny Martinez - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

On Thursday, Council of Economic Advisers Chair Christina Romer presented President Barack Obama's 2010 Economic Report.

The report, scheduled to be delivered to Congress today, detailed the many obstacles the country must overcome in order to avoid another recessionary period.

Romer said the report's theme is one that directly reflects the status of this country; Rescue, Rebalance and Rebuild. She also said that, over the past year, the President has been looking to implement this theme with the jobs and health reform bills.

"[The President] has sought to rescue the economy from immediate crisis, rebalance the economy and begin the process of rebuilding the economy on a stronger foundation of quality, affordable health care, better education and job training, clean energy and innovation," Romer said.

In the report, the President estimates a hike in jobs created per month to 95,000, a number many of his critics believe is far fetched. Romer said she believes the uptick to be consistent with other forecasts.

Romer also said that initiatives like the jobs and wages tax credit, the energy retrofit program and small business lending will be particularly effective in materializing the 95,000 estimate.

"It's our best estimate going forward," Romer said. "I think what the President is going to do is to put in place the best that we can, working with Congress, and then see if we can get better performance. That of course, would be what all of us are hoping for."

Copenhagen Was Not A Total Failure, Says White House Official

By Benny Martinez - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Although the Copenhagen climate conference in December did not yield a legally binding agreement, President Obama’s Special Envoy on Climate Change, Todd Stern, defended U.S. efforts at the conference Tuesday, and explained that last-minute success was in fact reached.

Stern pointed to an accord that gave individual countries the responsibility to calculate emission reductions. The accord, which was agreed to by nearly 100 countries after a string of negotiations from Obama and Secretary State Hillary Clinton, also capped the increase in global average climate temperature at 2 degrees centigrade. Strong opposition came from six countries, including China and India, which ultimately prohibited the accord from becoming legally binding.

“[The accord] certainly doesn’t do everything, it is more sketch than painting,” Stern said during remarks at the Center for American Progress. “But it shows the way forward in a number of important ways, and did this at a moment when failure seemed imminent.”

“Progress in these issues should also contribute to the fabric of a larger new regime for climate diplomacy,” Stern added.

41st GOP Senator Sworn In

By Benny Martinez - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) was sworn in Thursday evening at the Senate Chambers, making him the 41st Republican Senator and thus breaking the Democrats' supermajority.

After the swearing-in ceremony, the new Senator met with reporters to touch on some of the issues that are circling Capitol Hill.

Brown said that he was eager to begin working, and he added that the jobs bill needs the most work, saying that “not one single job has been created in the past year.”

Brown also emphasized the importance of bipartisanship in the House and Senate. He said that in order to accomplish anything and assist the American people, collaboration and compromise are key.

Although, when asked if, procedurally, he could be the 60th vote on initiatives like the health reform bill, Brown answered, “I’m not the 60th vote, I’m the 41st.”

The GOP Senator, who won the seat held for decades by the late Senator Ted Kennedy, spoke highly of tax cuts for small businesses.

“Tax cuts are not the problem for the economy, it’s the answer,” Brown said.