Dr. Benjamin was first chosen in July, and her nomination went to the full Senate for a vote on October 7th - where it was held up by Senate Republicans over an unrelated dispute regarding an insurance company 'gag order' intended to prevent Medicare recipients from receiving disingenuous information about health care reform.
Senate Republicans finally allowed her nomination to come to a full vote today after Senator Reid (thanks!) lambasted them for preventing the confirmation of officials key to combating the H1N1 epidemic.
Dr. Benjamin is an incredible medical professional and this is fantastic news. A reminder on some of her many qualifications for the position, from Shakesville:
President Obama has chosen to serve as surgeon general Dr. Regina Benjamin, a rural, Gulf Coast family physician, MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant recipient, a Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights recipient, the first black woman to head a state medical society, and the first woman, first African-American woman, and first person younger than 40 to sit on the board of trustees of the American Medical Association.
Thankfully the concern trolling about her weight died down pretty quickly too - here's hoping her confirmation doesn't reinvigorate it.
Definitely a double-whammy of (rare) positive news from Congress this week!
There is no substantive reason Dr. Regina Benjamin shouldn't be confirmed as Surgeon General. We know that because her detractors have been forced to resort to the "But, but, but ... she's FAT" argument. Namecalling is where you go when you have nothing.
Richard Fausset has done a nice profile of Obama's nominee for Surgeon General, Dr. Regina Benjamin, in the LA Times. Through interviews with local folks, he highlights not only Dr. Benjamin's dedicated service to the Alabama community of Bayou La Batre, but some of the health care concerns facing regular folks across America as well.
[Sammy]Duffy, a disabled 52-year-old who runs a fruit stand, knows Benjamin's story well: how she will treat almost anyone in her tiny medical office; how she accepts payments in oysters and shrimp when patients can't pay cash; and how she elected to stay in this backwater after her clinic was ravaged by two hurricanes and a fire.
"I think she's done wonders for this town," he said.
But ask Duffy what he thinks about the Democrats' plan to broaden health coverage with a government insurance plan, and his brow furrows. Sounds like communism, he says. Or, at the very least, an overreach.
Communism? That's an old favorite bugaboo of conservatives, but the kinder, gentler GOP has favored "socialism" the last few years. Neither term is accurate of course.
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