The Doctor is Not In

March 28, 2013 The Doctor is Not In Nearly 57 million Americans lack adequate primary health care. Thousands of new primary care doctors are needed. “But the deck is stacked against a big increase, given medical school cultures that push students toward specialization,” according to Sunday’s New York Daily News. “It’s a wildly irrational system,” said Bernie, who chairs a Senate subcommittee on primary health care. “We do not need more specialists. We need primary care physicians in rural and poor urban areas.” Read the Daily News report » Read Bernie's report on primary care in America » Senate to Obama: Hands Off Social Security, Veterans The Senate went on record opposing President Obama’s proposal to cut Social Security and disabled veterans’ benefits. A budget bill passed on Saturday included a Bernie provision against adopting a stingier consumer price index. The proposed new way to measure inflation is the centerpiece of a “grand bargain” Obama wants with congressional Republicans. “This is a strong signal that when push comes to shove the Senate is going to oppose any effort to balance the budget on the backs of seniors, disabled veterans and their survivors,” Bernie said. Watch Bernie’s speech » Too Big to Jail? The nation’s biggest banks are bigger today than before taxpayers bailed them out after the 2008 financial collapse. Now, Attorney General Holder says some banks are so big that it would disrupt the economy to bring criminal charges against them. “In other words, we have a situation now where Wall Street is not only too big to fail, they are too big to jail,” Bernie said. According to a new poll, most Americans want the government to break up big banks. Watch Bernie’s speech » Lessons from Europe Polls show that more than 70 percent of Americans favor restrictions on executive pay. Bernie asked Heather Gautney, a research fellow in his Senate office and an assistant professor at Fordham University, to take a closer look at what’s happening in Europe, where the Swiss have banned golden parachutes, the EU has limited banker bonuses and France is reining in salaries for top executives. Read ‘Lessons from Europe’ Part III » Read ‘Lessons from Europe’ Part II » Read ‘Lessons from Europe’ Part I » Share this What do you think? TAKE THE POLL Would you favor or oppose a plan to break up big banks? » In Other News GRAND BARGAIN The media are fixated on when and if a so-called “grand bargain” will be reached on the budget. That’s the wrong question, Bernie wrote for The Hill » SAVE SATURDAY MAIL Bernie called on the postmaster general to withdraw his plan to stop Saturday mail delivery » GLOBAL WARMING Environmental activist and author Bill McKibben was the keynote speaker at Bernie’s Vermont conference on climate change » SUPPORT VETERANS Bernie’s Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs urged Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to help the Department of Veterans Affairs curb a growing backlog of disability claims » Coming Events ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES 4/1: Bernie is Chris Hayes’ guest on the premier of his new show on MSNBC » REAL TIME 4/5: Bernie joins Bill Maher on the HBO program Real Time » TAKING ON WALL STREET4/12: Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi joins Bernie for a Vermont town meeting on Wall Street and big banks » THOM HARTMANN PROGRAM Listen to "Brunch with Bernie" Fridays at 3 p.m. ET » Tell a Friend E-mail: E-mail: E-mail: