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| TERM: | Two years. |
| SALARY: | $76,163 |
| DUTIES | |
We asked candidates for senator in the General Assembly two questions:
1. What should the state government do to ensure that every Pennsylvanian has health-insurance coverage?
2. In light of the current economic downturn, what can state government do to safeguard both the commonwealth’s and citizens’ assets?
Lawrence M. Farnese
Philadelphia
Health care: Nearly 300,000 Philadelphians and 767,000 Pennsylvanians wake up without health-insurance coverage everyday. In the short term, we must enact sensible legislation to ensure those individuals are covered. Long term, I support single-payer, universal health-care coverage. In 2007, Gov. Rendell presented the “Prescription for Pennsylvania.” The governor’s plan reduces health-care costs, creates additional oversight of insurance companies and provides for additional health clinics. The Prescription is not ideal and long-term, I support single-payer universal care.
Economy: To safeguard the commonwealth’s assets, we need to work closely with the independent offices of Treasurer and Auditor General to ensure that they are good stewards of taxpayer money and using best efforts to prudently invest funds. State government can help individual citizens by making financial literacy and education available in schools and to the community in general, and to promote existing safety-net programs. We can also support creative initiatives
Jack Morley
Philadelphia
Health care: A universal health-care entitlement would bankrupt the commonwealth. Pennsylvania already provides a safety net by insuring 50,000 low-income adults and 140,000 children of low-income parents through CHIP. Philadelphians are more concerned about crime rates and failing schools, which force responsible parents to pay for their child’s education twice, real-estate taxes and secular/private school tuition expense.
Economy: It is not the role of government in our Constitutional republic to bail out losers in a free-market economy. Government agencies and quasi-government agencies such as the Delaware River Port Authority should be held criminally liable for floating more than one bond issue at a time and entering into unregulated forms of gambling called derivative swap-option contracts.
Shirley Kitchen
Philadelphia
Health care: Provide the necessary funding and resources so that each Pennsylvanian, regardless of income, has access to affordable health care, preventative care and prescription drugs. The CHIP, Adult Basic, Cover All Kids and PACE/PACENET programs are great models of where Pennsylvania needs to be as far as health care. However, more needs to be done to ensure all Pennsylvanians are covered.
Economy: No Response Provided.
Robert Nix
Philadelphia
Health care: I do not believe that a goal of providing health insurance to every Pennsylvanian is achievable without first significantly lowering health-care costs as a prerequisite. A strategy for reducing health-care costs needs to be multifaceted, and should include the following at a minimum: increasing emphasis on preventative health care, improving quality of health care through litigation reform, decoupling health insurance from employment and allowing medical providers to be decision-makers rather than insurers.
Economy: The economic downturn is due to private-sector greed and unethical practices coupled with a lack of sufficient oversight, transparency and accountability. Often, conflict of interest undermines the ability of the public sector to perform a proper oversight function. I do not support expanding government regulation and involvement in the economy, but we still need a level of effective government oversight that is free from conflict of interest; we can start with comprehensive lobbying reform.
Mike Stack
Philadelphia
Health care: State government should improve health-care quality, access and affordability. We are making progress. Health-care providers may practice to the fullest extent of their training and education, and best practices are being developed for the treatment of chronic conditions, including diabetes and asthma. I sponsored legislation to reduce health-care-associated infections. It could lower health-care costs and save consumers $3.5 billion a year. Other innovative measures will be considered to ensure Pennsylvanians have access to health care.
Economy: We must continue several key investments. First, invest in proven education and job-training programs. Allocate $650 million for alternative-energy projects to create new jobs and products. Invest $2 billion in infrastructure improvements to create jobs and protect assets. Work to attract new business to our port. We recently strengthened mortgage lending laws by improving oversight, enforcement and licensing. Finally, direct mortgage-assistance programs were created and continued to help struggling homeowners.
John Farley
Philadelphia
Health care: The Pennsylvania Legislature has to insure that the PA/S-CHIP program is well-funded. This program also needs to include funding for children’s mental-health issues, including autism. I do not support a single-payer health-care system for Pennsylvania. These government-run programs tend to be inefficient. I believe that we need doctors, lawyers, the insurance industry and health-care professionals to sit down and fix this problem. Government is not the solution!
Economy: Most importantly, STOP SPENDING OUR MONEY! The Pa. budget for 2008-2009 is over $28 billion. The Rainy Day Fund has been drained. Our state government keeps borrowing money and floating bonds. Our infrastructure is falling apart, our schools are underfunded, our police department is under-staffed. Where is the money going to? Harrisburg is broken. We need to get the state finance under control! It’s time to put Harrisburg on a diet.
Vincent J. Hughes
Philadelphia
Health care: Immediately, the Pa. Senate should be called back into session after the 11/4 election to vote on the Pa. ABC legislation that passed out of the Pa. House of Reps in March, and required to pass this legislation. The governor has said that he would sign the legislation. We could take everyone off of the current waiting list immediately, and sign new people on to the program.
Economy: We must utilize appropriate surpluses in existing funds to thoughtfully address any state deficits. At the same time, we must be very careful not to jeopardize important programs that provide services to those most in need, and also make sure that we invest in programs that will stimulate the states economy. This would also include continuing to invest in our public education system. We must also utilize technology to streamline our operations and create better efficiencies, thereby saving costs.
Marc Perry
Wyndmoor
Health care: Pennsylvania must increase interstate competition between health-insurance providers. This will increase access, decrease costs and increase quality. Pennsylvania’s health-care system should utilize the competition model that exists in the health-care system for federal employees. This will make health care affordable for all Pennsylvania citizens. Additionally, for those who can not afford health care, the state will need to provide mandated coverage with a particular emphasis on preventive health care.
Economy: Simply put, the state needs to cut spending. This year the state passed a $27 billion budget and dipped into the Rainy Day Fund to balance the budget. This should not happen. Next year the state will clearly be facing deficits. The state needs to hold the line on increasing spending. The state needs to pass ethics-reform laws so that our state senators are not spending millions of taxpayer dollars every year on legislative perks.