PerryCare, Texas style
Well, this is going to put some pressure on Rep. Michele Bachmann, who is about to roll out her own health care plan. Rick Perry
has some ideas.
On Wednesday night, the governor's camp released an early sketch of what his health care plan could entail. Perry spokesman Mark Miner said the first thing the governor would do as president is work with Congress to repeal "Obamacare." Then he would "start over," first by working to stabilize the country’s economy for employers, then by trying to "free states from federal mandates and empower them to develop innovative solutions." Finally, he would attempt to lower skyrocketing health care costs "through the proven, market-based strategies of transparency, choice and competition." Perry wants states to be given flexibility and incentives to foster competition in the insurance market, to design solutions for patients with pre-existing conditions, to lower costs for small businesses and to implement Texas-style tort reform, Miner said.
Cuz those market-based strategies have worked so well so far. But doesn't "proven, market-based strategies of transparency, choice and competition" sound an awful lot like a health insurance exchange? Chances are, Perry doesn't really know what's in that "Obamacare" he's so intent on destroying, except for the fact that it doesn't have "Texas-style tort reform."
Because what the nation has been missing is Texas-style reforms.
Of all 50 states, Texas has the worst rate of health insurance coverage and mental health spending, and the second worst rate of low-income people covered by Medicaid and per capita spending on Medicaid. It has the lowest percentage of pregnant women receiving prenatal care. It ranks 44th in health care expenditures per capita.