Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Here's a bad idea for TennCare: Steve Gill, whom I like personally, but I am not sure he's a not a Republican first type of guy has a cure for that deep black hole called TennCare. This type of cure I can do without.

We should try something new, a third way: a comprehensive market-based reform program that would provide nearly a million uninsured Tennesseans with access to affordable healthcare insurance and help to control the rising costs of healthcare for all Tennesseans by injecting a strong dose of consumer, market driven, responsibility and accountability into the system.

There is something tricky here and it smells bad when someone says "provide" in combination with "accountability" in the same sentence. It stinks of another government program.

"The Tennessee Comprehensive Accountability and Responsibility Enhancement System (TNCARES) would make a new and affordable health insurance pool available to nearly a million Tennesseans who are uninsured, including those who have recently been cut from the rolls of TennCare.

Here's the a catch,

The plan would also legally require every Tennessean to maintain health insurance coverage as a matter of personal responsibility -- just like car insurance is already required by law in Tennessee."