Manan Trivedi News Roundup

There has been a fair amount of news coming out of the 6th congressional district lately. Instead of several short blog posts we'll just have one big one.

Here goes:



From "Seeking the magic money threshold," by Dave Boyer on the Inky's Say What blog:

The Sunlight Foundation compared congressional fund-raising totals this year with the previous "wave" election years of 1994 and 2006, when voters tossed out incumbents in large numbers. It found that incumbents who raise more than 70 percent of the total campaign contributions in their respective races were "very unlikely to lose."

That magic number could spell trouble for Gerlach, who has compiled 62.1 percent of the money in his Sixth District race against Democrat Manan Trivedi.

The article lists the same ratio for several other races in the state. Politicos should check it out.

It seems like every time someone with military service runs for office their opposition will make an issue of residency. Dr. Manan Trivedi received such criticism from Congressman Jim Gerlach. The Trivedi campaign has responded with a video featuring veterans rebutting Gerlach's comments. [Full disclosure: as mentioned a few times on the blog I am an Army brat and moved around frequently in my early childhood. This use of the residency issue for military candidates irks me. What would matter more would be his "home of record"or "legal residence" while he was in the service.]

Lastly, here is Trivedi's statement on PA Fair Care:

The following is a statement from Manan Trivedi, Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania's 6th Congressional District and primary care physician, in response to the start of the PA Fair Care program, which will enable access to health insurance for those who had been previously denied due to pre-existing conditions.


"Today, a door has finally opened for all those Pennsylvanians with pre-existing conditions to have access to health insurance. Because of this new program, PA Fair Care, one of the most beneficial aspects to health insurance reform, those who had previously been unjustifiably denied basic access to affordable, essential care and treatment can be insured. As a doctor, I saw too many people unable to receive life-saving medical care because of profit-driven insurance company policies like these, and I support the parts of the health insurance reform that works to fix these failings.


"Yet those reforms did not do nearly enough to address health care costs. If our representatives in Congress on both sides of the aisle do not find ways to begin to bring costs down, continued access to health insurance will be seriously threatened. We can bring down costs in such a commonsensical way -- by figuring out what works and what doesn't based on medical evidence. If we can do a better job of eliminating useless tests and procedures, we can dramatically decrease costs while improving quality of care across the board. And that is what people here at home are really looking for."

Manan Trivedi is the Democratic nominee for Congress in Pennsylvania's 6th Congressional District. He is a primary care physician, a former Lt. Commander in the U.S. Navy, and an Iraq War veteran from Berks County.