Pawlenty proves he's full of crap, and Kathleen Sebelius slaps down his argument

[ProSense]

Pawlenty Backs Away From Tenther Claims: ‘I Wouldn’t Go So Far As To Say It’s A Legal Issue’

STEPHANOPOULOS: And Governor Pawlenty, let me begin with you, because after the speech on Thursday night, the president says he’s going to get this done. After the speech on Thursday night, you suggested perhaps invoking the Tenth Amendment, which reserves powers to the states, if indeed this does pass. What exactly are you saying? There is a movement to actually nullify health care if it passes?

PAWLENTY: Well, George, in the legal sense, I think the courts have addressed these Tenth Amendment issues, but more in the political sense, in the common sense arena, we need to have a clear understanding of what the federal government does well and what should be reserved to the states.

We have essentially Obamacare that’s been deployed in two states in major ways. One is in Tennessee. We have a Democratic governor, Phil Bredesen, said hey, look, we tried this cost savings as a way to fund a major overhaul of health care; it didn’t work. He’s in the news this morning saying, you know, don’t go down that path.

We have another state, Massachusetts, who tried essentially the same thing. They have the most expensive health care in the country. They have increasing waiting lines, and it’s not working.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So just to be clear, are you suggesting that any parts of the plan as the president has laid it out are unconstitutional?

PAWLENTY: Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s a legal issue. I was raising it as much as a practical matter, that there are some things that the federal government shouldn’t do, doesn’t do well, and should leave to the states.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Secretary Sebelius, what about that? The governor says there’s two places that a form of what the president is calling for has been tried, Tennessee and Massachusetts. He says they haven’t worked.

SEBELIUS: Well, I think that — first, good morning, Governor Pawlenty and senators. I — Tim and I were elected in 2002 and reelected in 2006, and I haven’t seen him in a while.

As he well knows, the Tennessee experiment is really different from anything that’s been talked about here. It’s something that really was an attempt to make a vastly over-expensive Medicaid system work. It did crash and burn. It’s different than any place in the country, I would suggest, that has done a much better job at expanding care and holding their costs.

In Massachusetts, they readily admit that they expanded care and didn’t look at the cost side of the puzzle, which is why I think the president continues to suggest that anything we do, it has to bend the cost curve. And as he said to Congress the other day, even if you bring down the rising health care costs .1 of a percent, you save $4 trillion over the first 10 years of the plan. So bending the cost curve has always been part of what Congress is talking about, and it’s impossible to do a state at a time. We need a national strategy.

[ProSense]

1. Would the Pawlenty supporter like to comment? n/t

[AuntPatsy]

2. Crickets....nice work prosense..thank you for attempting to keep du on track...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Don't tell me there is somebody here

who would so much as piss on Tiny Tim if he was on fire.

[emulatorloo]

4. He is a wonderful combination of Bland and Stupid. That is the most supportive thing I can

say about this partisan talking-points machine.

[Hansel]

6. But, but, but...he smiles and acts like a nice man in campaign commericials.

[Cha]

9. Drive

by.

[Clio the Leo]

5. I invite Timmy down here to tell the poor children in my community.....

.... that the health care they're receiving sucks.

KNOXVILLE — In the past year, the number of uninsured children in Tennessee has declined, while the number of uninsured adults has increased. Also, TennCare — []bthe state’s medical assistance program for low-income adults and uninsured children — continues to get high marks from those who receive its benefits.

Those findings are included in “The Impact of TennCare: A Survey of Recipients 2009″ recently released by the Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The study was done by Bill Fox, CBER director and economics professor, and Christopher Carty, research associate.

TennCare is a Medicaid waiver, or “demonstration” program, meaning that the state has been allowed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to waive certain Medicaid regulations in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of a managed care approach for delivering health care services to those eligible for Medicaid benefits. With an annual budget of $7 billion, TennCare provides health coverage for 1.2 million low-income children, pregnant women and disabled Tennesseans.

According to CBER’s report, there are an estimated 616,967 uninsured Tennesseans, which represents about 10 percent of the state’s population. Although the number of uninsured is somewhat higher now than a year ago, the difference is not statistically significant. However, the percentage of uninsured children (3.7 percent) is down more than 1 percent from last year (4.9 percent), and the percentage of uninsured adults (11.9 percent) is higher than last year (10.6 percent).

“The substantial decrease in the number of uninsured children can be partially attributed to the CoverKids program and an increase in the number of children covered by TennCare as a result of declining economic conditions,” the report notes.

http://www.utk.edu/tntoday/2009/08/24/ut-study-satisfaction-with-tenncare-remains-high-number-of-uninsured-children-declines/

And trust me, as a born and bred U of Alabama football fan, I dont quote ANYTHING from the University of TN unless I HAVE for the better good!. ;)

[Hansel]

7. I invite him to the bottom of the Mississippi River where 13

Minnesotans lost their lives because of his refusal to sign any of the road and bridge projects passed consistently by the MN congress or to heed any warnings about the deteriorating conditions of our bridges.

[gristy]

8. Cost of this plan - 400 trillion dollars over ten years?

"if you bring down the rising health care costs .1 of a percent, you save $4 trillion"

Does Sebelius think no one listening knows how to divide?

4 trillion health care savings over 10 years / .001 = 0.4 Quadrillion dollars total health care cost over 10 years

Right? If I'm not, what am I missing here?

[quiet.american]

10. Not sure this is it, but Sebelius refers to "rising health care costs" in regard to this figure.

It reads to me as though she is not referring to the cost of the plan, but to the cost of doing nothing and letting health care costs continue to rise as is.

[dflprincess]

11. This from the man who vetoed a bill raising the income tax on the richest Minnesotans

and then cut the General Assistance Medical program that serves the poorest of the poor in the state. Many of the people who qualified for the program are mentally ill and while they may still receive emergency care they will not be able to get maintenance care.

Oh (and no surprise here) Timmy likes to pretend he is a "Christian".