Dr. Eric Novack, right-wing shill

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

When one of the Neocon Washington Post's deans of conservative apologists, George Will, sings someone's praises you know something dark and evil is afoot. It merits a closer examination of the object of his praise. (Will's columns should come with a disclosure statement).

Both of Arizona's two major newspapers The Arizona Republic and the Arizona Daily Star published the Washington Post opinion from George Will today. George F. Will – Unlawful Heath Reform?

In 2006, long before there was an Obama administration determined to impose a command-and-control federal health-care system, a young orthopedic surgeon walked into the Goldwater Institute here with an idea. The institute, America's most potent advocate of limited government, embraced Eric Novack's idea for protecting Arizonans from health-care coercion. In 2008, Arizonans voted on Novack's proposed amendment to the state's Constitution:

"No law shall be passed that restricts a person's freedom of choice of private health care systems or private plans of any type. No law shall interfere with a person's or entity's right to pay directly for lawful medical services, nor shall any law impose a penalty or fine, of any type, for choosing to obtain or decline health care coverage or for participation in any particular health care system or plan."

Proponents were outspent five to one by opponents who argued, meretriciously, that it would destroy Arizona's Medicaid program, with which many insurance companies have lucrative contracts. Nevertheless, the proposition lost by only 8,687 votes out of 2.1 million cast, and Arizonans will vote on essentially the same language next November.

The rest of the opinion appears to be cribbed from talking points provided to George Will by Clint Bolick, an attorney at the Goldwater Institute. Will has a storied past of writing "his" opinions from right-wing think tank talking points.

But my interest today is Eric Novack. This guy keeps popping up like a bad penny in Arizona politics. So let's learn a little more about him.

Dr. Eric Novack is a board certified orthopaedic surgeon with Phoenix Orthopaedic Consultants, P.C.

Dr. Eric Novack began his career in medicine as an emergency medical technician answering 911 calls in Bridgeport, Conn., "the innermost of inner cities," he said. He earned his medical degree from University of California, San Francisco, in 1996 and has practiced medicine in Arizona since 2001.

He came up with Proposition 101 after spending 2005 to 2007 hosting a Phoenix radio program about health care. Health-care control at issue in Prop. 101

Oh dear God, another talk radio show host who thinks he has all the answers.

Dr. Eric Novack… came up with the idea for Proposition 101, which appeared on Arizona's Nov. 4, 2008 election ballot. Officially titled the Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act, Proposition 101 includes four specific health-care changes, including making a single-payer, universal health-care system — like Canada's, for example — illegal in Arizona.

Novack "believes the nation's founders erred by not including freedom of health-care choice in the First Amendment, and that Americans are in danger of having that freedom taken away by government interests." Health-care control at issue in Prop. 101

Apparently Dr. Novack is unfamiliar with the history of managed health care and health insurance in the United States. The Founding Fathers didn't make any error – it didn't exist at the time. Medicine was still rudimentary and physicians were scarce. The "freedom" to be screwed by your for-profit health insurance company was not something the Founding Fathers likely would have supported, and not something I believe most Americans would want to see enshrined in the Constitution today.

In October 2007 Dr. Novack co-authored a Goldwater Institute paper on health insurance deregulation in Arizona. Dr. Eric Novack | Goldwater Institute He is also a contributor to The Health Care Blog: Eric Novack and the conservative Human Events. Eric Novack: Conservative Articles – HUMAN EVENTS He is a Senior Fellow for Health Policy with Americans for Prosperity, and he speaks and writes nationally on health-care issues; working to promote freedom and patient autonomy in our health-care system. Patients United Now Tour Featuring Dr. Eric Novack | Facebook (Patients United Now is an industry front group opposed to health care reform.)

Dr. Novack testified to Congress in June of 2009 that President Obama's claim that 46 million Americans don’t have health insurance is not accurate because it does not reflect exactly who those people are and why they are “uninsured.” Physician Disputes Obama’s Claim of 46 Million Uninsured Americans Media Matters fact checked his letter published in the Washington Post in July 2009 and found Americans For Prosperity's Eric Novack Repeats Health Care Falsehoods In Washington Post Letter

Dr. Eric Novack and Dr. Jeffrey Singer formed a non-profit corporation in 2007 for the purpose of "education" (read political advocacy) known as The Benjamin Rush League Ariz. Corp. Comm. — Corporate Inquiry Dr. Eric Novack is President, Dr. Jeffrey Singer is Treasurer, Dr. Tracy Contant is a Director, and Lori Klein is the Secretary.

The 2007 Friend of the Taxpayer Awards Luncheon was held by the Arizona Federation of Taxpayers and Americans for Prosperity Foundation on Saturday, December 15, at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort. ARIZONA FEDERATION OF TAXPAYERS Among the speakers:

Free-market health care reformer Eric Novack MD, of the Benjamin Rush League

Among the largest contributors to Prop. 101 in 2008 Initiative on health care will be on ballot after all (August 15, 2008):

The largest single donation is $75,000 from Dawson Management Group, the firm that manages the Scottsdale Plaza Resort. Resort spokeswoman Josee Lafleche said John Dawson, chairman of the company, "strongly believes in the individual right to choose his or her own health-care package."

The next largest contribution is $20,000 from Tucson auto dealer Jim Click.

A non-profit corporation called The Benjamin Rush League, formed by Novack and Singer, put in $17,000.

An Arizona Secretary of State filing from September 2008 Notifications of Contributions to Ballot Measure Committees put The Benjamin Rush League contribution at $25,000.

The most recent Arizona Secretary of State filing from November 2009 Notifications of Contributions to Ballot Measure Committees shows a contribution from The Benjamin Rush League in the amount of $250,000 towards the 2010 initiative. The next largest contributor is Charles Burnett III, from Houston, Texas, at $52,741.74. (He also appears to be a big contributor to Ron Paul, if this is the same guy.)

The web site for the Arizona Healthcare Freedom Act initiative indicates that major funding is paid for by out-of-state contributor Frayda Levy, Dawson Companies (see above), Randy Kendrick, and The Benjamin Rush League.

Espresso Pundit posted that "The folks at The Benjamin Rush League–lead by Dr. Eric Novack–" are currently running ads against Reps. Gabriel Giffords, Harry Mitchell and Ann Kirkpatrick.

The Benjamin Rush Leagueis a non-profit corporation whose purpose is to allow the good doctors Novack and Singer to raise and spend as much money as possible for political advocacy on behalf of "free market" health care. It is just another cog in the right-wing noise machine aligned with Americans for Prosperity, the Goldwater Institute, and the Arizona Federation of Taxpayers. And of course conservative apologist George Will and the Neocon Washington Post.

Historical Note: For those of you asking "who the hell is Benjamin Rush?," shame on you. Benjamin Rush was a Founding Father from Pennsylvania who signed the Declaration of Independence. He was a physician, writer, educator, humanitarian, and the founder of Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. He is also considered the "Father of American Psychiatry." Benjamin Rush led a remarkably full life, but is little remembered today.

Benjamin Rush was one of five physicians who signed the Declaration of Independence. Strong Medicine: Doctors Who Signed the Declaration of Independence