Author, Doctor, Speaker, Joseph Bentivegna

Doctor Bentivegna is an ophthalmologist living in Connecticut. He has written numerous op-ed pieces for The Hartford Courant and The New York Times regarding health care, tort reform, and the political situation in Haiti.

All Articles

Journalism Needs to Regain its Credibility

Years ago when I was running for the Republican nomination for US Senate, a patient was referred to me for decreased vision. This patient was aware my campaign and was an unrepentant liberal. Thus, our meeting began with a spirited but cordial discussion over our political differences. Eventually we agreed to disagree. Our attention then turned to the real reason for his visit, his eyesight. I examined him and concluded that changing his glasses would result in minimal improvement in his vision and that if he wanted to see better, he needed cataract surgery. Without hesitation, this patient consented to put his eyesight in my hands. I am not recounting this story to market my skills as a physician. I am telling it because even though this patient knew I had strong political differences with him, it never even dawned on him that it would affect his care. This patient knew that I was a member of a profession that promised to always put his interests first, regardless of his race, social class, insurance status, gender or political views. Perhaps there was a time when journalism commanded such respect, but not anymore. While journalists have always been left of center, most … [Read more...]

Predictions for 2019

January 1, 2019       Unlike most columnists who make annual predications and hope you forget them, I will review the predictions I made for 2018 before proceeding:       1. The Republicans will hold the House and pick up Senate seats. Half right       2. The stock market will gain at least another 10%. Wrong       3. The mullahs are going down. Wrong for now but will be correct in the foreseeable future.       4. North Korea will be brought under control. Debatable. North Korea has stopped testing ballistic missiles but is ignoring its promise to end its nuclear program.       5. The Steelers will win the Super Bowl. Wrong. But we wuz robbed.       Given this lackluster record, I will now proceed to 2019 predictions:       1. The stock market will remain flat. Many stocks are simply overvalued according to traditional metrics, especially the FAANG stocks (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google). These … [Read more...]

Bring Connecticut Back – Vote for Republican Bob Stefanowski

October 29, 2018        My wife and I moved to Connecticut thirty years ago. The economy was booming and businesses were hiring. We loved living in Fairfield. Our two daughters received excellent educations in the public schools. My friends, my neighbors, my wife and I looked forward to having our children settle in Connecticut as we became grandparents.       But it didn’t happen. Our children are gone. To visit our grandchildren, we sit in New York and Boston traffic. We wait at LaGuardia and Kennedy to catch flights to Florida, California and Colorado.        How did this happen? How did a state that led the country in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth from 1976 until 1991 end up with the third worse business climate in the country? How did we actually lose population in the past several years? Why did General Electric, Aetna and multiple small businesses leave for greener pastures? And why don’t our children want to live here?        The answer is that an incompetent political class has used the hard-working Connecticut … [Read more...]