Job Creation Remains Vital In Economic Recovery Says Biden

By Justine Rellosa-Talk Radio News Service

Vice President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that the economy is, in fact, "on the mend" and added that job creation is still at the forefront of change.

According to government figures, the Recovery Act has created 2.5 million jobs so far and it increased the current GDP by as much as three percent last quarter. Biden said that nearly $100 billion of the Recovery Act tax cuts are pulling "double-duty" shifts by helping families gain efficient income through multiplier effects and boosting economic activity.

"The economy is clearly on a mend. In the first quarter of this year we added 54,000 jobs per month. Now, I know, and we all know, that that rate of job growth is too slow to bring down the unemployment rate," Biden said. "Continued weakness in job creation remains a major challenge, one the President and the whole administration is committed to meeting."

The Vice President said that the plan for economic growth includes rules and regulations that protect consumers and tax payers, education reform, sustainable federal spending and energy independence.

"The next expansion is characterized by prosperity that is broadly shared by new economic opportunities for the middle class," Biden said. "By finally tearing down the barriers to health care and education [and] by starting us down a path toward energy independence, we’ll be building the America we need in order to compete... and lead in the 21st century."

Health Care Reform Will Lower Deficit, Says Orszag

By Justine Rellosa-Talk Radio News Service

Peter Orszag, the Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, reiterated the Obama administration's claim Thursday that the health care refrom law will ultimately lower the U.S. deficit.

"The bill, according to the official scoring, leads not only to a deficit reduction over the first decade, but a growing deficit reduction into the second decade,” explained Orszag Thursday during remarks before The Economic Club in Washington, D.C.

Orszag noted that the recently signed health care legislation embodies every serious idea that’s been thus proposed regarding economic reform.

Secretary Sebelius Dismisses Legal Challenges To Health Care Reform

By Chingyu Wang-Talk Radio News Service

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Tuesday dismissed the legal challenges against the recently passed health care reform law.

"We are confident that the legal standing of the law is solid and this has more to do with politics and policy," said Sebelius during an appearance at the National Press Club. "Our job is to really focus on talking to American people about what really is in the bill, how the law will work to their benefits, what's available for them and that's where we are going to spend our time and energy."

Attorneys general from 14 states have filed lawsuits against the new law on the basis that a mandate requiring individual's to purchase insurance violates the constitution.

Sebelius noted that she believes there is significant political motivation for the 14 attorney generals.

"I think that the vast majority of lawsuits have been filed by attorney generals in states where they have also some interest in higher office," said Sebelius.

U.S. Surgeon General Outlines Commitment To Preventative Care

By Justine Rellosa- Talk Radio News Service

U.S. Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin stated that preventative care and practices will be her main focus while serving as Surgeon General during remarks at a Tuesday morning meeting with the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC).

"The basis of my priorities is wellness and prevention," said Benjamin. "I think that the preventative care is where we really are going to change this health care system from a sick system to a wellness system."

Benjamin emphasized the importance of creating an atmosphere in which patients are able to feel comfortable and safe while building a long-term, trust-based relationship within their primary care settings. The patient centered medical home (PCMH) initiative is meant to foster these relations by improving the quality and efficiency of health care through transforming the way primary care is practiced and reimbursed.

"Patients are ultimately the decision maker, and they really should be. We should be there to help them and be there to give them information to help them make their decisions. We shouldn't make their decisions for them," said Benjamin.

Doctors For America Rejoice Following Passage Of Health Care Reform

By Laurel Brishel Prichard University of New Mexico/ Talk Radio News Service

Advocacy group Doctors For America expressed their excitement Monday over the passage of sweeping health care reform legislation the previous day. The doctors joined together from across the country in D.C. for a march and rally to congratulate the Senate and House for their work on health care reform.

“This legislation will go further and do more to fix the problems of the health care delivery system in my state then anything that I have seen proposed in the 27 years I’ve been here in the Senate,” said Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) during a news conference for the association. “This is a great day for our country.”

The doctors, who wore patient identification bands to help associate themselves with their patients that are struggling with the cost of health care, will continue to urge the Senate to pass the reconciliation, which Bingaman says will be passed this week.

Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) warned that many new programs will have kinks in the beginning, but that health care reform is a monumental achievement for the nation.

“What you are seeing happen here is the beginning of an enormous change, it is not a change that is all done,’ said McDermott “We have to keep coming back and working on it just like we did with Medicare.”

The new reform should be treated like Medicare, according to McDermott, which has been amended every year since its enactment in 1965. One of the amendments that McDermott and Doctors For America pressed hope to create is a program to help future doctors, dentists and nurses with the ever rising cost of school for those fields.

“This bill tells all Americans who are suffering with chronic conditions, whose insurance companies set a lifetime or annual cap on their benefits, that those days are over this year,” Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL.) said.