This is the third time I have posted on this issue. Since it is getting uglier and uglier, expect more. Also recommend this diary since it is undercovered. The national media has pretty much stayed away from it except for something in the Washington Post, which I posted the other day. Anyway to briefly recap, the Governer of Tennessee Phil Bredesen is cutting 300,000 low income people, including the mentally ill, off the states health insurance program. This effort, he says, will save Tenncare for the poorest residents.
It seems that the "Democratic" Governer of Tennessee lied when he said no children would be cut from Tenncare. The Lawyer advocate for Tenncare, Gordon Bonnyman caught
him.
Attorney Gordon Bonnyman called the governor's hand on this. I have trouble believing this was a mistake. Bredesen is a health care professional. He had other health care professionals assisting him. He had $350 per hour specialized attorneys assisting on the project. Such people do not make a mistake like this.
Bonnyman caught what was being done and exposed it. Conveniently, all the governor can do is blame all his TennCare problems on Bonnyman. This serves to divert attention away from the program the governor and his administration are trying to stick to the Tennessee citizenry. It also diverts attention away from Bredesen's apparent inability to negotiate with all parties concerned, including the federal government, to work out a program not so draconian.
When confronted with the loss of life which would result from his program, Bredesen says there will be some sort of program to prevent this from happening. Where is this money going to come from? It will be expensive if the state bears the total cost.There is no mention of federal help. How many other patchwork programs will have to be initiated for which there will be no federal help?
Now Bredesen's lawyers are trying to get Bonnyman fired, and the grounds for firing him are absolutely . insane
State wants Bonnyman role restricted in TennCare
By ANITA WADHWANI
Staff Writer
State lawyers said yesterday they want to stop attorney Gordon Bonnyman from representing 323,000 TennCare enrollees that Gov. Phil Bredesen wants to eliminate from state-sponsored health insurance.
Minutes before a courtroom conference, the attorneys surprised Bonnyman with their plans, saying that the public interest lawyer has a conflict of interest in trying to legally represent two groups of TennCare users: those who will be cut from the program and those who will not.
Bonnyman, state lawyers said, should represent only those who will not lose their benefits, with the other group being represented by Nashville attorneys George Barrett and Ted Carey.
Bonnyman, who has been the governor's most visible adversary in opposing the large-scale overhaul of TennCare, said he would fight the state's move. He said there was no conflict of interest in his continued legal battles over the rights of all 1.3 million TennCare enrollees, a role he has played for the past six years.
BTW, Bredesen is the former CEO of an HMO.