U.S. Senate Race in Ga. Filling Up With Docs
WASHINGTON -- Three of the 17 physicians currently serving in the House of Representatives could soon be vying for the same Senate seat in a rare political contest heating up in Georgia.Reps. Paul Broun, MD (R) and Phil Gingrey, MD (R) have already stated their intention to run for a soon-to-be open Senate seat of Sen. Saxby
Chambliss (R-Ga.). Meanwhile, the third physician congressman from the state, Rep. Tom Price, MD (R), may also throw his hat in the ring before the start of summer.
Chambliss announced in late January he would not seek a third Senate term when his current term ends in 2014.
"I can't imagine that many times in our history we might have had three different physicians all running for the same position," Charles Bullock, PhD, political science professor at the University of Georgia in Athens, told MedPage Today.
The state's physician group, the Medical Association of Georgia (MAG), in Atlanta, isn't tipping its hand on whom it may endorse if this turns into a three-doctor race. In fact, the association's executive director, Donald Palmisano Jr., said the group would wait until every candidate is in a race before deciding, and may not make a decision even then.
"It's not a foregone conclusion that MAG would endorse a candidate in every race," Palmisano told MedPage Today in an email. The group's physician leaders would make the decision.
Insiders in the state's medical community have said quietly that they would like to see Price enter the race. Price, an orthopedic surgeon, is viewed as more in touch with the doctor community than Broun or Gingrey.
Price has kept an active role in organized medicine even after entering public office. He remains a delegate to the American Medical Association's House of Delegates and regularly attends meetings -- a fact that hasn't gone unnoticed by the state's medical community.
The University of Michigan Medical School graduate is holding off on a final decision despite quietly expressing interest before Chambliss' retirement announcement. "Dr. Price has already indicated that he is considering a Senate campaign but won't make any final decisions until May, after fiscal negotiations have wrapped up in the House," Price's spokeswoman told MedPage Today.
Broun, Gingrey, and Price have all worked around health policy in Washington.
All three congressmen are members of the GOP Doctors Caucus, which Gingrey co-chairs with Tennessee Rep. Phil Roe, MD.
Broun continues to support a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). He has offered a countermeasure that allows individuals to deduct 100% of their healthcare expenses including insurance, increases the contribution limit on health savings accounts, allows interstate shopping for health insurance, and moves Medicare to a premium-assistance program.
The Athens, Ga., native has practiced general medicine and in 2002 began making house calls full time before being elected to Congress in 2007.
Gingrey, an ob/gyn, still strongly opposes the ACA and supports moving Medicare to a premium-support system.
Gingrey officially announced his entry into the Senate race last week. Last year he championed the Generating Antibiotic Incentives Now (GAIN) Act, which grants an additional 5 years of marketing exclusivity to new drugs that treat antibiotic-resistant infections. The bill was passed last summer as part of the reauthorization of FDA user fees.
Price, the one-time medical director of the Orthopedic Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, supported legislation last year that would repeal parts of the ACA.
The Peach State has had a history of sending health professionals to Washington. In the 1990s and early 2000s, there were two dentists from the state serving in Congress, Bullock remembered.
"Again, there can't be many states that have done that," Bullock said.
The 2014 Republican primary, which will take place next summer, could include some nonphysician candidates as well. Rep. Jack Kingston is said to be considering a bid, along with former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel.
Fewer Democrats in the largely conservative state are emerging as contenders. One is Rep. John Barrow, who has served in Congress since 2005, but, like Price, he hasn't said whether he'll run.
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