Guess who is in charge of fixing Medicaid?

Guess who is in charge of fixing medicaid?

Why, its none other than disgraced former Tennessee governor Don Sundquist.  I guess the administration felt that his near destruction of TennCare was a smashing success, so they thought they'd let Sundquist try his hand at Medicaid as well.

The 200,000 to 300,000 people who are going to lose their coverage under TennCare is a direct consequence of Sundquist's ignoring TennCare in his first term as governor, and deciding that fighting for an income tax, which would have been unconstitutional anyway, was the best way to spend his second term, while deciding to put a cap on the amount of federal funds that TennCare could receive.

more below...

The chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party used the right word to sum up this appointment: "bizzare."

Only in the Bush administration can someone whose greatest legacy is letting TennCare crumble be considered the best man for the job to fix Medicaid nationally.

News Story from the Tennessean

But thats not all!

An investigation which ended in indictments of two of Sundquist's friends came about by an investigation into activities that Sundquist himself was involved while he was governor.

Federal prosecuters have said that they have evidence that Sundquist "improperly interceded" in the giving of a contract to a company which set up internet access in the state's schools.  Sundquist says that he is not under investigation and has done nothing wrong.

Link

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One other side note, this dealing with Tennessee Senate. If you aren't done laughing or pulling your hair out, whichever you're doing, Ed Bryant, a candidate for the US Senate on the repubican side in Tennessee, has apparently sent out a fundraising letter calling Harold Ford, Jr. "the Hillary Clinton of Tennessee" whatever that means.

Sure Ed, whatever.

•  Sundquist probably couldn't win an election

  for dogcatcher in the state now, yet they tap him to fix Medicade?  Sometimes I wonder who is doing the thinking in Washington (they think?!?)

  by FleetAdmiralJ on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 02:48:46 PM PDT

  •  Question Re: TennCare

    Can you give us some background on what the heck is going on with TennCare?  My friend from TN (who is very liberal and whose mother is a nurse) has been telling me Bredesen is doing what he has to do to save the state.  On the other hand there are some blogs I've come across that can say enough about how "evil" Bredesen is for his cuts.  And now I see something about people sleeping in the state capitol.  So what the heck is going on over there?

    by Lavoisier1794 on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 02:55:33 PM PDT

    •  I haven't heard about the thing

      where people are sleeping in the state capital, but, I did a diary on TennCare not too long ago which kind of goes over at least how we got to where we are.

      by FleetAdmiralJ on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 02:58:40 PM PDT

      •  Sorry it was the governor's office

        Link: http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com/2005/06/stop-tenncare-cuts-occupation-day-2.html

        by Lavoisier1794 on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 03:22:33 PM PDT

        •  One thing I have yet to see

          from many of the anti-cut protestes is exactly what the alternative should be.  Probably because they don't have one, or at least don't have one that has any chance of being implemented.

          by FleetAdmiralJ on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 03:31:30 PM PDT

          •  That's been my question.

            That has been my question as well. The only answer I heard was a tax on cigarettes. Now I actually hate cigarettes more than most people, but I also realize a tax on them would eventually further hurt TN economy. Like it or not, tobacco is a big part of the economy here. It's really not a good option.

            by nutmeg on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 04:36:21 PM PDT

            •  Right

              its not exactly like Bredesen wants to cut people out of TennCare.  I wouldn't want to.

              But some people dont understand that there are budgetary needs that the state are required to meet - including balancing the budget - and it is just impossible to do everything that they want to do.

              by FleetAdmiralJ on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 04:57:02 PM PDT

    •  I made some editorial changes

      mostly grammar and stuff. its amazing how many errors to catch after reading something a while after you post it lol

      by FleetAdmiralJ on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 03:05:59 PM PDT

    •  Interesting...

      I don't know all the deatils, but I honestly feel like Bredesen would fix the situation if he could. Tenncare was a total disaster when he took office. Basically, Sundquist took the life boat right after the boat hit the iceberg.

      I went to the DFA conference today and they were discussing why this issue hasn't been in the national media. There have been people camped out at the governors office for over 20 days now. A lot of those people are wheelchair bound Tenncare recipients who have lost or will soon lose their coverage. It seems like that should be news, but I guess not when you have pretty missing teens in Aruba.

      by nutmeg on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 04:47:33 PM PDT

      •  There are many, many problems with TennCare

        and much of it goes beyond having enough money, but that is the most immediate concern right now.  The problem with the state budget is that there really isn't anything to cut.  Its not like big state budgets like California or New York or the federal budget where there is a lot of pork to cut out.  There just isn't anything there.

        Education, criminal justice, TennCare, and roads are basically the budget.  The transportation budget is often set by "take it or leave it" federal funding, forcing Tennessee to spend money on roads they don't need just so they have money on roads that they do need.

        Criminal justice...yeah, like anyone is going to cut that.

        That leaves TennCare or Education, and to this point, Education is the sacred lamb that Bredesen has refused to touch unless absolutely necessary.  Understandable since Tennessee is something like 48th in education in the nation.  Heck, the state universities are having to increase tutition by double digits on a yearly basis as it is.

        The only other theoretical alternative is to raise taxes, and the only two real options there are increasing sales taxes (again), which would make them once again highest in the nation (Texas has now taken that honor by a quarter of a percent), or trying to pass through an income tax, which is more likely to have another constitutional amendment banning it (just in case) than getting one through allowing it.

        by FleetAdmiralJ on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 04:53:56 PM PDT

        •  Bredesen not to blame.

          Thanks to Tn Justice Center lawsuits,Bredesen couldn't reign in the increasing costs of TennCare.Even modest co-pays for prescription drugs were challenged in court.

          Last year, Bredesen outlined a broad strategy in an effort to salvage
           TennCare, including controls on pharmacy spending and cost-sharing with enrollees. The plan, which would have maintained full enrollment, was widely viewed as a sensible approach by TennCare enrollees, legislators, physicians, hospitals and other stakeholders. However, lawyers with the Tennessee Justice Center refused to lift legal roadblocks to reform, including "consent decrees" brokered in the 1990s that obligate TennCare to provide benefits well beyond federal requirements.

          As a result, Bredesen in November announced the State would reduce TennCare enrollment in a return to Medicaid, but noted the decision could be reversed if lawyers for the Justice Center stood down from legal challenges. The lawyers agreed to temporarily suspend portions of the consent decrees, but insisted that most provisions remain in force and even threatened to bring new lawsuits challenging TennCare reform. Bredesen said the threat of ongoing litigation made wholesale reductions unavoidable. "We can't truly reform this program until we get it out of the courts," he said. "At this point, the only option is to reduce benefits as well as enrollment."

           TennCare was created by folksy Democratic gov Ned McWhorter whom was granted a waiver from the Cinton administration to replace medicaid.Unlike traditional medicaid ,TennCare covered those whom were uninsurable and paid all prescription costs.Fast forward to republican governor Sundquist whom mismanaged the state for eight years and left office as a despised politician .Newly elected Bredesen promised to improve education,balance the budget,and slow the growth of TennCare expenditures.Bredesen had no help procuring funds from Washington via TWEETLEDEE senator Alexander and TWEETLEDUM senate majority leader Frist.The well meaning but destructive lawsuits from the TJC forced Bredesen to cannibalize rather than tweak a good program.
           Tis tragic as  430,000 enrollees, out of a total of 1.3 million enrolled, could lose health coverage.The bulk are uninsurable adults whom won't qualify for traditional medicaid.Bredesen's new plan will at least keep all children covered but is that really progress?

          by GayHillbilly on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 10:49:49 PM PDT

          •  Thank you

            are these the same people now protesting in the governor's office because bredesen is gonna cut them because of their own refusing to any cuts of any kind in the stinkin program?

            i'm betting so.

            by FleetAdmiralJ on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 11:15:57 PM PDT

            •  I dont think so...

              Maybe some are involved in the lawsuit, but I think the majority of the protestors are just people that are going to lose coverage.

              by nutmeg on Sun Jul 10, 2005 at 10:04:05 AM PDT

          •  Thanks...

            This is a really good overview on the whole mess.

            by nutmeg on Sun Jul 10, 2005 at 12:28:09 PM PDT

  •  Picky Picky Picky

    That's Medicaid, thank you very much </annoying proofreading by pesky healthcare advocate>

    Miserable Failure rewards gross incompetence as long as it is accompanied by unthinking loyalty. From your description, Sundquist is unable to think and will therefore fit in perfectly with the current administration.

    by bramish on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 03:20:21 PM PDT

    •  thanks fixed

      duh

      by FleetAdmiralJ on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 03:28:45 PM PDT

  •  Funny...

    Do you remember that story that came out while he was governor that he had adopted a stray dog?

    And this kid is watching the news that night and he's like "Hey, that's my dog!" He'd been looking for his lost dog for a few days I think.

    The dog was returned to the kid eventually, and the news made it into a nice warm fuzzy story, but the scuttlebutt was that the Gov was kind of mean about it and didn't want to give the dog back.

    by nutmeg on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 07:03:25 PM PDT

    •  lol

      no i don't remember that

      by FleetAdmiralJ on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 07:04:28 PM PDT

      •  Link...

        The TV news made it seem warm fuzzy, but the Scene had more to say about it.

        link

        
        Dec. 14th 1995

        And you said you wouldn't elect him dogcatcher

        After Sundquist adopted a stray dog named Bailey, 10-year-old Jarrett Sellers saw the pooch's picture and tearfully identified him as the missing dog he had raised from a puppy. The governor did what any warmhearted adult would do: He dispatched a highway patrolman to interrogate the Sellers family and then let them stew for several days while he decided whether to give back the dog. The resulting PR fiasco engendered such classic front-page headlines as, "Little boy begs governor: 'Please give my dog back.' "
        

        by nutmeg on Tue Jul 12, 2005 at 05:07:57 PM PDT

•  destroy destroy destroy

  I firmly believe that they would consider this "good thinking". What I mean is, this is their goal...

  Education: NCLB- unfund and destroy it
  Social Security: steal trust fund and destroy it
  Medicare: Screw it up so badly we have to dismantle it...
  Judiciary: Discredit so they can destroy it
  Environment: Make money and destroy it

  This group wants to destroy so they can remake in THEIR own image...

  by Elise on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 02:54:24 PM PDT

  •  It's sad that I am so unsurpised with

    this.  But who better to appoint to a federal program that one's party wishes to destroy than someone who has had such success destroying a state-level program.

    by GN1927 on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 03:11:20 PM PDT

  •  Also: UN...

    UN: Appoint someone who hates it so he can "reform" (destroy?) it

    Peace: Attempt to export "democracy" by waging pre-emptive wars and destroy it

    The list is endless. There is not one thing these people are capable of "fixing"... except in the negative sense (as in "fixing" the elections, or in "fixing" facts around policy).

    by Donna in Rome on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 03:38:43 PM PDT

  •  Also: FCC, FTC, Interior, Homeland Sec...

    Look, they invite LOBBYISTS to write the new regulations.  During FCC public notice hearings, they schedule them in out of the way places and then cancel them when people show up anyway.  Cheney holds meetings with industrialists and won't tell the public what they discussed in forming an Energy Policy.

    There is a word for this kind of government: kleptocracy.

    The Music Room.

    by madhaus on Sun Jul 10, 2005 at 12:10:17 AM PDT

•  Starve the Beast...

  Wow, and I thought that Bush went to the extreme with Bolton.  Reading this diary brings me further to the conclusion that the extreme is the new norm.  

  by dtp0601 on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 02:59:36 PM PDT

•  Fixing Medicaid LOL

  If fixing means cutting Medicaid, then Sunquist is perfect for this job.  BTW, I saw Bob Tuke today at the DFC in Nashville, many of us were talking so I am not sure who said it, perhaps Bob: " putting Sundquist to fix Medicaid is like putting Bolton in place to fix the United Nations."  

  Yep..., destroy, destroy, destroy.  

  by Sandy on Signal on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 03:19:24 PM PDT

  •  HAHA HI SANDY!

    That was me you were talking to, and it was Bob that said it!

    Nice to meet you today!

    by nutmeg on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 06:38:14 PM PDT

•  I hope users choose to recommend this

  diary.  The catastrophic economic, national safety, and moral consequences to another blow at our already weak health care coverage system is extremely serious.  

  Thanks for writing about this (one tiny, tiny quibble: Medicaid, not Medicade).

  by GN1927 on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 03:20:14 PM PDT

•  Unfortunately, none of this is bizarre

  Outlined in PNAC and other docs, the intent of this party to take hold and then systematically bankrupt and destabize every social safety net available, setting it up for private companies to swoop in and take over.  Private companies in which the BCF and their associates are board members, share holders, etc.

  by JessicaDrewSW on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 04:26:49 PM PDT

•  Health Care for All

  There is one over-arching issue that all Americans care about: affordable health care.

  The current patchwork of employer-funded private health insurance, medicare for the elderly, medicaid for the poor, the disabled, their children, and the aging parents of baby boomers---it's a disaster for everyone, and it WILL get worse.

  There is one solution: Medicare for All....another name for single-payer, taxpayer funded national health insurance. An idea first advanced by Harry Truman.

  It's a winning issue for any candidate for office.

  by willyr on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 06:11:58 PM PDT

•  I guessed wrong based on the diary title

  I figured it would be Jack Kevorkian.

  From the description I see, it looks like Bush found someone even less appropriate.

  by alizard on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 06:27:55 PM PDT

•  This needs the AARP

  Somehow, I don't think this appointee is someone who would be at all popular with our mature citizens. They do have the power to get this to the general public too.

  How do we bring this to their attn?

  by teresab on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 08:05:05 PM PDT

  •  Im sure

    Sundquist is a nightmare to Tennesseans of any age. When they reported this on the local news Friday night, even the local anchors seemed like they couldn't believe what they were reading.

    I'm sure the AARP is aware of it. But the Bush admin. dropped this late on Friday (I wonder why!) so they probably just haven't reacted yet.

    by nutmeg on Sun Jul 10, 2005 at 12:26:53 PM PDT

•  This follows a pattern...

  Bolton, who would be a colossal wreck as UN ambassador...

  And now this guy?

  It seems they (the administration) wish to destroy programs/organizations by placing inept leaders at the helm of said organizations.

  I'm seeing a pattern develop here.
  

  by nakedshoplifter on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 11:02:04 PM PDT

•  Does Bruce Plante know?

  or have they replaced him with Limbaugh too? Tennessee would be a damn fine state if not for the wing-nuts! This is truly,unfortunately...believable. Who else would Dubya choose?

  by rcvanoz on Sat Jul 09, 2005 at 11:46:53 PM PDT