Phil Bredesen: The Dick Cheney of Health Care

[BlueJessamine]

Phil Bredesen: The Dick Cheney of Health Care

Phil Bredesen The Dick Cheney of Health Care

Phil Bredesen's Own Words Sabotage His Health Care Reform Pitch

By Pete Kotz

A story yesterday in the Wall Street Journal said it all, quoting Governor Phil Bredesen as saying that "advocacy groups don't matter nearly as much as the pharmaceutical groups, the hospitals, the doctors' groups. There's a lot of very powerful interest groups that will play in this thing."

This is Phil's idea of health care reform. Cut a deal with the guys who've screwed us all these years, and exclude those who represent consumers. It's the same method Dick Cheney used to create the current energy policy. That worked out well, didn't it?

Consider it Exhibit A -- with no need for further evidence -- for why Bredesen is a wretched choice to lead Obama's health care initiative. This is one of those rare issues where both right and left agree. Working people face carved coverage each year while simultaneously paying double-digit increases. Businesses can't afford to do right by employees because the tab now includes too many zeros. But Phil just wants to return to 1988 and just repeat the entire process.

If Obama actually chooses Bredesen to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, take it as a sign there is no God -- and that the president will soon exhume Andrew Jackson to head the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

http://blogs.nashvillescene.com/pitw/2009/02/phil_bredesens_own_words_sabot.php

Bredesen Strikes Back at Critics

By Jeff Woods

Gov. Phil Bredesen came out swinging today against liberal health care advocates who are trying to torpedo his bid to lead President Obama's health care reform efforts. He even trotted out former Gov. Ned McWherter, the creator of TennCare, to defend Bredesen for gutting the program. McWherter blames it all on his predecessor, Don Sundquist, of course: "When I left, the next administration took over and they had five different commissioners in five years and lost control of cost containment. He's got the background and knowledge to develop a program and give us national health care."

Both the Wall Street Journal and Politico note that Bredesen is violating political protocol here and may wind up publicly embarrassing himself by appearing to grovel for the job. Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who is believed to be Bredesen's main rival, declined comment to WSJ. Bredesen insists he's not lobbying. Really?

WSJ calls it "unusual public jockeying over the cabinet post," and Politico says: "Bredesen finds himself in a delicate position. Political protocol dictates that those interested in high-level appointments not actually voice their interest. But as an ambitious former CEO and governor -- somebody who stepped into the Democratic primary last year to propose a mini-convention of super delegates -- Bredesen is loathe to let the considerable incoming fire he's taking go unanswered, especially on an issue to which he's devoted much of his business and government career."

http://blogs.nashvillescene.com/pitw/2009/02/bredesen_strikes_back_at_criti.php#more

[BlueJessamine]

1. Families USA,

a progressive health policy advocacy group, has produced a book about the devastation that Gov. Bredesen wreaked upon Tennessee's Medicaid system. You can download the book for FREE at this website --


http://www.familiesusa.org/resources/publications/reports/tenncare-report.html

[yurbud]

2. my letter to Obama on this:

The Wall Stree Journal quotes Governor Phil Bredesen as saying that "advocacy groups don't matter nearly as much as the pharmaceutical groups, the hospitals, the doctors' groups. There's a lot of very powerful interest groups that will play in this thing." Please scratch this guy off your list for HHS and do not replace him with another corporate parasite. We need someone to FIX THE PROBLEM not conspire with those who created it to make it worse.

[BlueJessamine]

3. Thank you for writing President Obama on this . . .

:fistbump:

:yourock: