Courtney Mabeus, The Examiner
2006-07-20 09:00:00.0
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Montgomery County -

In his 27 years of practice as a gynecologist in Montgomery County, Dr. John Young said he has seen doctors driven out of the state by rising insurance prices, inadequate compensation and increasing amounts of paperwork.

With those issues in mind, the Montgomery County Medical Society Political Action Committee endorsed handfuls of Senate and House candidates from the county in an attempt to get their voices heard during the next legislative session.

“When I started 20 some years ago, and even five years ago, we had many more malpractice insurers to chose from,” Young, legislative chairman for the society, said Tuesday. “Now there’s maybe three.”

This year is the first time in the 103 years of the society’s history that the group, which represents 1,600 county doctors, has endorsed political candidates, said society spokeswoman Susan Raskin.

The society endorsed 16 Democratic House candidates and six Democratic Senate candidates from districts 14 through 20 and from District 39. It also endorsed two Republicans, incumbent Delegate Jean Cryor, of District 15, and John Joaquin, of District 19.

The overwhelming number of Democratic endorsements came because the state General Assembly leans that way, Young said.

Doctors would like to see the legislature reduce the amount of paperwork that they now must deal with. They would also like better access to malpractice insurance and better reimbursement of insurance, Young said.

Also announcing campaign endorsements this week were Montgomery County’s labor unions. Operating under the banner of the Metropolitan Washington AFL-CIO, the unions backed Rolling Terrace Elementary School teacher Marc Elrich in his bid to fill an at-large seat on the County Council. Elrich is also a member of the Takoma Park City Council.

– Examiner Staff Writer Dena Levitz contributed to this story.

cmabeus@dcexaminer.com