Health Care

This morning in a statewide media conference call moderated by the Nevada News Bureau, candidate Brian Sandoval fielded questions on numerous issues including the 2003 Supreme Court ruling on the two-thirds legislative supermajority needed to increase taxes, tax policy, the Tax Pledge, budget cuts and higher education salaries, renewable energy mandates and the state’s health care reform lawsuit.

CARSON CITY – A Las Vegas attorney running for attorney general as a Republican against Democrat incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto, and who called for a State Bar investigation into her release of a letter to the press about a potential legal challenge to the federal health care law, is now himself the subject of a bar inquiry.
Attorney Jacob Hafter called the inquiry ridiculous.
“It just shows the type of protection these incumbents have,” he said.

I've always liked Dean Heller. We might disagree politically, but my interactions with him have always been friendly. He seems like a truly nice person, the opposite of the what we see in some other Nevada politicians.

But watching him this week at the NNDA breakfast reminded me that Dean's ambition is clearly more important than adherence to truth.

You see, Dean used to come off as a lot more moderate than he does today. As assemblyman and Secretary of State, he championed causes that don't exactly line up with the national GOP's ideology.

Four attorneys with ties to the issues and parties of Nevada’s health care reform lawsuit gave their perspectives to media and political bloggers during a Nevada News Bureau-hosted conference call this afternoon.
Mark Hutchison, lead counsel for Governor Gibbons’ newly retained pro-bono team, said he plans to participate in a conference with US District Court Judge Roger Vinson next week as part of the process to join Florida and other states in an amended complaint challenging the federal government on provisions in the recently passed health care legislation.

CARSON CITY – Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., today rejected the suggestion that he call on embattled U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., to resign because of an ongoing ethics investigation.

CARSON CITY – Nevada has crafted the proper policies of low taxes and small government that has helped it weather the current recession, and these same policies have positioned the state to respond favorably when the economic recovery takes hold, according to a report released today by the American Legislative Exchange Council.

CARSON CITY – A member of the Gibbons administration said today he believes Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto violated attorney-client privilege when she commented on legal work she is doing on behalf of the governor.
The comment was made by Deputy Chief of Staff Lynn Hettrick during an interview on the Nevada NewsMakers television program. The discussion centered on Gibbons’ decision to move forward today with a challenge to the federal health care law without the participation of the attorney general’s office.

The recently-passed health insurance reform bill will lead to major changes for Nevada’s Medicaid program.

In an act of defiance against the advice given him by Attorney General Catherine Cortez-Masto, Governor Gibbons appears to be arranging to have private counsel, acting on his behalf as Governor, file suit against enactment of the recently passed National Health Care Reform Act.

A dozen community and labor groups from Nevada have signed onto a letter to Attorney General Catherine Cortez-Masto urging her to support, not file suit, over federal health care reform.
Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons this week demanded the Attorney General join a lawsuit filed by 14 other Attorneys General to block implementation of federal health care reform, a package of changes that critics of the lawsuits claim are needed in Nevada, where an estimated 400,000 men, women and children lack health insurance coverage.

These days, I get a chuckle when I see people engaging in philosophical debates over health care reform, or "socialized medicine" as opponents call it.

I understand and respect the positions of those who think government should not be a part of the health care system, that the free market will fix everything. It's an interesting philosophical position, but it faces the brick wall of reality.

It was about midnight and tensions at the White House ran high on that January evening. House and Senate leaders had been haggling for days to merge their two health care bills. The heady momentum of passing President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority in both chambers had given way to the touchy task of reconciling two very different pieces of legislation. Their window for passing health care was closing: Republican Scott Brown was gaining ground on the Democratic candidate for the Massachusetts Senate seat long held by Ted Kennedy. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid began to speak.

Let me preface this by saying the just-passed health care reform law provokes strong opinions on both sides, and I'm not going to attempt in this post to pass judgement one way or the other.

But it seems very clear that embattled Gov. Jim Gibbons is trying to use this issue to boost his reelection chances, to the detriment of the state.

U.S.

Tracking Sunday's congressional health care vote, Carson Now quoted Congressman Dean Heller with a statement from his Web site.

Congressman Dean Heller, firmly standing with his party and the health insurance industry, rejected a Democratic-led plan to provide affordable health care for Northern Nevadans.

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s political leaders have emphasized repeatedly in recent months that the state faces a huge funding shortfall in 2011, perhaps as much as a $3 billion hole that will make the r

The State Senate and Assembly have this week considered cuts to education as they seek ways to close Nevada’s $881 million budget gap at the legislative special session.

On The Census
By Karl Neathammer

By Phillip Moyer | Nevada News Bureau

Over 90 Nevada citizens voiced their opinions about the economic situation to Nevada legislators at the Reno Town Hall meeting Saturday morning.  An estimated 500 citizens showed up at Reno City Ha

Gibbons is doing the wrong things to help Nevada. Many Nevadans are going to be suffering because of him. We are in a sorry situation.

Saying that government must be reduced and that Nevadans can solve their own problems without help from Washington DC, Governor Gibbons tonight laid down the gauntlet: “No New Taxes and cut the budge

(Updated at 2:50 p.m. on Jan. 27, 2010)

Wednesday, January 20; three, free 1-hour seminars: 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

Hayek: I totally agree. There is a chasm between the public and our elected leaders. A chasm of great magnitude. But whose fault is it?

It is true that the U.S. has a somewhat long and proud reputation of gleaning innovative solutions from states that are frequently improved on or manged by our federal government.

Well, as a minor addition to the aforegoing discussion, these days a reporter can be anyone who keeps a diary.

Joshua Johnston :

(Click image to play video)
What Sen. Reid is about to be praised for from coast to coast, and put him in the history books is what will likely make his re-election to the U.S.