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.

       ObamaCare – Poor Health Care Policy but Political Ingenuity

November 29, 2015   Detractors of ObamaCare are forever reciting the program’s failings: unworkable web sites, skyrocketing premiums, endless cost overruns, silly bureaucratic mandates, useless medical record requirements, bankrupt insurance co-ops along with the random cancellations of perfectly fine policies. They like to recount one of President Obama’s most famous mendacious declarations: “If you like your health insurance, you can keep it.” This is because these detractors assume that the purpose of ObamaCare is to provide health insurance. It is not. The purpose of ObamaCare is threefold: Redistribute wealth, increase the number of baseline Democrats and enrich wealthy contributors. Once this is understood, it becomes obvious that not only is ObamaCare a huge success; it is political genius. Let’s look at these points individually.    1.  Redistribute Wealth. The President and his minions tacked on several taxes to finance ObamaCare, mostly on the upper middle class.  Married couples who file jointly with incomes exceeding $250,000 annually ($200,000 if you are single) have to pay another 0.9% income tax and 3.8% on interest income and capital gains.  While these … [Read more...]

   Jeb Bush Should Drop Out

    October 31, 2015   Jeb Bush is a good man. As Florida’s Governor, he presided over tax cuts and bureaucratic simplification that has resulted in this state becoming a mecca not only for retirees, but for anyone seeking a job. He has demonstrated compassion towards illegal immigrants and speaks fluent Spanish. He is a solid social conservative, a convert to Catholicism and successfully passed a school voucher program that unfortunately was thrown out by liberal judges. He has raised huge amounts of money and has hired a top notch staff. So what’s the problem? The problem is that his last name is Bush. Is this an unfair criticism? Yes. But it does not change the political reality. Jeb Bush’s low standing in the polls is because Republican primary voters often speak to non-political people when assessing their candidates. They listen to comments from their beer-drinking brothers-in-law: “You guys are going to nominate another Bush? What have you been smoking lately?” A battle between Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton will quickly devolve into a referendum on the presidencies of Bill Clinton and  George W. Bush. Smirking hard-core Democrats delight in … [Read more...]

   Connecticut Republicans are Enabling Democrats Again

  September 30, 2015   The Connecticut Republican Party is like the pimply-faced nerd in high school who believes that if he helps the hot babe with her homework, she will go out with him. In spite of obvious evidence that the Democrats – who control both houses and the Governor’s mansion – have no interest in anything the Republican leaders have to say, Connecticut Republicans are asking for a special session to address the hospital cuts proposed by Governor Dan Malloy. They are also warming to the Governor’s proposal to place transportation funds in a “lock box.” To the “shock” of Democratic bean counters and liberal media outlets, Connecticut is about to run a $100 million deficit this year and $1.1 billion dollar deficit next year. This is after the massive tax increases that Governor Malloy promised during his campaign would never happen.  Malloy is now doing what he does best - proposing cuts to the poorest and most vulnerable citizens – in order to shake down the taxpayers again. Even rising Democratic star, State Senator Ted Kennedy was disturbed by the hospital cuts, pointing out that not only does this hurt the poor, but decreases matching funds from … [Read more...]