Here’s a run-down of  all leadership posts:

Republicans:

President Pro Tempore: Joe Scarnatti (R-Cameron) nominated, unopposed

Majority Leader: Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware) reelected, unopposed.

Appropriations Chair: Jake Corman (R-Centre)

Whip: Jane Orie (R-Allegheny)

Caucus Chairman: Mike Waugh (R-York)

Caucus Secretary: Rob Robbins (R-Butler)

Policy Chairman and Caucus Administrator will be appointed by the Senate President at a later date.

Democrats:

Minority Leader: Bob Mellow (D- Lackawanna), unopposed

Appropriations Chair: Jay Costa (R-Allegheny)

Whip: Mike O’Pake (D-Berks)

Caucus Chairman: Vince Hughes (D-Montgomery) beat John Wozniak

Caucus Secretary: Sean Logan (D-Allegheny) beat out Lisa Boscola

Policy Chairman: Rich Kasunic (D-Fayette)

Caucus Administrator: Christine Tartaglione (D-Philadelphia)

Simon writes in the Patriot News:

“Pennsylvania currently has approximately 12,000 primary care physicians, who comprise 34 percent of the physicians in the commonwealth. Nearly 41 percent of Pennsylvania’s physicians are more than 50 years old, and most of them will be retiring over the next 10 to 15 years…

Pennsylvania has a disproportionately large proportion of elderly individuals, so the demand for general internists to care for patients with chronic illness will be particularly high. In a recent study of fourth-year medical students at 11 U.S. medical schools, only two percent reported that they were likely to enter careers in general internal medicine. Many medical schools across the nation have increased class size in order to help meet the projected numbers of physicians in the future.”

But, Simons explains that there are a few pieces of legislation that encourage medical students to become primary care physicians in Pennsylvania by offering grants, scholarships, loan forgiveness, and other incentives.

On the fedearl level, Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz from Philadelphia introduced the Patient Access to Primary Care Act in September, and Rep. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Jake Corman have both introduced incentive bills on the state level to help fix the problem. 

Simons urges legislators to act on these pieces of legislation before this physician decline becomes a crisis.  Citizens need access to primary care to stay healthy, and prevent long-term illnesses and problems, which in turn keeps healthcare costs down for everyone.

The Senate failed to reauthorize the Council this fall, after they couldn’t come to agreement with the governor on a health insurance plan or MCARE abatement.

Sens. Pat Vance and Wayne Fontana have announced their intent to introduce legislation in the new session to extend the Council for a longer period of time. 

“Rising health care costs continue to hurt employers and employees alike – and is why the formal reauthorization of PHC4 has to be a priority,” said Fontana. “The work of PHC4 guarantees that health care purchasers and consumers have reliable and transparent information about the value of their health care. With that information, competition is increased, money and lives are saved, and consumer-directed health care continues to advance.”

Read the full article from the Associated Press.

Both legislative insurance committees have until next week to provide the Insurance Department comments and recommendations regarding the merger. Yesterday’s meeting of the House Insurance Committee did not yield a collective recommendation. Instead, Chairman DeLuca will be sending a packet to Commissioner Ario that contains information from yesterday’s meeting, transcripts from their two public hearings, a DVD of the recent roundtable discussion, all information sent to the committee on the issue and any written remarks from individual committee members.

Anger has ensued.

As of this morning, Republican Reps. Sam Smith, Katharine Watson and Scott Boyd have issued press releases railing the Democrats for avoiding a vote on the issue.

The following are excerpts from their press releases:

From Rep. Smith:

“I am shocked that the Democrats are suggesting using the health care retention fund to balance the state budget deficit as more and more maternity units shut down,” Smith said. “First the governor and Democrats want to tie passage of MCare legislation to approval of his one-size fits all government-run health care entitlement plan, now they want to use health care funds to pay for over-spending.”

During debate on the House floor today, DeWeese (re-elected as a leader yesterday) led the opposition of every House Democrat to continuing the MCare abatement program. As part of the debate, DeWeese used the state’s budget challenges as one reason to avoid a vote on the health care bill. However, funding for MCare comes from money doctors pay into a dedicated fund specifically for the purpose of supporting their liability insurance needs.

From Reps. Watson & Boyd:

“Not addressing MCARE abatement is a disgrace to the people of Pennsylvania,” said Watson. “The sole reason this legislation was not passed this session is because Governor Ed Rendell said he will not sign this bill until the Legislature passes his multi-billion dollar universal health care plan.”

“State Democrats chose to politicize the health care of Pennsylvania families by tying together very separate issues. It is completely unacceptable and immoral,” said Boyd.

HealthPoint PA will be sure to bring you any response from the Democrats!

The group, RockTheCapital.org, believes that Mellow’s position on the board is a conflict because Sen. Mellow sits on the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee, which is making recomendations on the proposed merger between Independence Blue Cross and Highmark Inc.

“His acceptance of a board seat with Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania is an obvious conflict of interest of the simple reason that the interests of the company are not necessarily those of the people,” Mr. Epstein wrote in a 17-page document released to the media.

In a statement, Mellow said the group’s concerns are baseless.

“My appointment to this board is old news,” he said. “It has been fully and publicly disclosed. I have and will continue to comply with Senate rules and law. To suggest otherwise is irresponsible.”

The group’s request comes as Senate Democrats meet later this week to elect a leadership slate for the next legislative session. Mr. Mellow is apparently unchallenged for another stint as Senate minority leader.

It also appears as a Nov. 28 deadline looms for legislative action to support, oppose or take no action on the proposed merger of two other Blues insurers in Pennsylvania, Independence Blue Cross of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh-based Highmark Inc.

Democrats

Speaker of the House: Current House Majority Whip Keith McCall (D-Carbon) was elected without opposition.

Majority Leader: Current House Majority Policy Chairman Todd Eachus (D-Luzerne) beat Majority Caucus Secretary Frank Dermody (D-Allegheny) to grab the post that Rep. Bill Deweese has held since 1990.

Democratic Whip:  Rep. Bill Deweese (D-Greene), who had stepped down from running for Leader, easily won a four way contest on the first ballot.

Caucus Secretary:  Rep Jen Mann (D-Lehigh) beat Rep. Tim Solobay (D-Washington) to become the first woman elected into caucus leadership in  years.

Majority Policy Chairman: Rep. Mike Sturla (D-Lancaster) surprised many by beating Rep. Mike Gerber (D-Montgomery).

Caucus Chairman:  Rep. Mark Cohen (D-Philadelphia) was re-elected unanimously.

Caucus Administrator: Rep. Ron Buxton (D-Harrisburg) defeated Jake Wheatley (D-Pittsburgh).

Appropriations Chair: Rep. Dwight Evans (D-Phila.) maintained this position, unnopposed.

Republicans

Minority Leader: Current leader Sam Smith (R-Punxsutawney) beat out his former mentor John Perzel (R-Philadelphia). 

Perzel had been speaker until  2006 when he ran again, even though Democrats had won the House majority that year.  Thinking he had enough Democratic votes to carry him to the win, Perzel  was shocked when Democrats orchestrated a deal with Rep. Denny O’Brien (R-Philadelphia) to have 99 Democrats and 6 Republicans vote O’Brien into the Speakership. After this, Perzel’s caucus awarded him with the position of Speaker Emeritus, which granted him extra staff and leadership office space.  Needless to say, this ordeal created a Smith-Perzel split in the GOP caucus.  

But, yesterday after vote counters revealed that Smith had won, Perzel moved to make the count unanimous. Therefore, nobody knows how close the count was, although members believe it was fairly close.

Minority Whip:  Rep. Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) won without opposition.

Republican Policy Chairman:  Rep. Stan Saylor won a close race that took several hours and ballots to decide. 

Caucus Chairwoman: Sandra Major (R-Susquehanna) won unopposed.

Caucus Administrator:  Rep. Merle Phillips (R-Northumberland) won unopposed after Rep. Brian Ellis (R-Butler) dropped his bid in the afternoon.

Caucus Secretary: Rep. Jerry Stern (R-Blair) defeated challenger Rep. Ron Marsico (R-Dauphin).

Minority Approprations Chairman: Rep. Mario Civera (R-Delaware) maintained his post, beating Rep. John Maher (R-Allegheny).

“Physicians at four European universities have completed what they say is the first successful transplant of a human windpipe using a patient’s own stem cells to fashion an organ and prevent its rejection by her immune system, according to an article in the British medical journal The Lancet. One of the physicians said the surgery could herald a “new age in surgical care.”

The transplant operation was performed on the patient, Claudia Castillo, in June in Barcelona, Spain, to alleviate an acute shortage of breath caused by a failing airway following severe tuberculosis. It followed weeks of preparation carried out at the universities of Barcelona, Spain, Bristol, England and Padua and Milan in Italy.

News of the procedure coincided with speculation that President-elect Barack Obama may reverse the Bush Administration’s restrictions on stem cell research, which has been contentious in some European countries, too. Anthony Hollander, a professor at Bristol University, said ethical concerns relating to embryonic stem cell research had not surfaced in the latest procedure because it had used only the patient’s own stem cells. “This was not embryonic stem cell research,” he said in a telephone interview.”

Visit the New York Times to read more about the breakthrough surgery.

Writes the Inquirer:

“It isn’t easy to stand up to the politically powerful Blues - Blue Cross of Philadelphia and Highmark Inc. of Pittsburgh. But it’s the right move for consumers, who would benefit too little from the deal as it is currently structured.

…

Senate Banking and Insurance Committee chairman Donald J. White (R., Indiana) is an insurance broker, and has voiced skepticism that the merger will provide any long-term benefits for consumers.

Anyone should be able to see that consolidating the state’s two giant health insurers into a virtual monopoly would weaken competition. Just look at basic economics.

Combining Independence Blue Cross, which dominates the Philadelphia region, with Highmark, which dominates the Pittsburgh region, would create a behemoth whose claws grip nearly 70 percent of the state’s health-insurance market.”

Visit the Inquirer to read the rest of their strong case against the merger.