Congressman Pete Stark, (D-Fremont), is in line to chair the most powerful healthcare committee in Congress. As the ranking Democrat of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, which oversees the Medicare and Medicaid program, it’s expected he’ll be voted in as chair.

Stark, 75, has served on the subcommittee for the last 12 years, and served as the chair of the committee when Democrats were in control of Congress from 1985 to 1994. He has always been an outspoken advocate for strengthening Medicare as a means to guarantee benefits for all seniors and people with disabilities.

Stark was responsible for legislation in the 1980s that made it illegal for doctors to refer patients to other doctors when they’d receive a financial benefit. He has also been an advocate of universal health care to cover the more than 45 million uninsured people in the United States.

The House of Representatives are expected to vote for their new Democratic leadership in January.

—By Troy May

Posted on December 4, 2006 06:08 AM