Critics Blast Jindal's Hush-Hush Health Care Privatization Push

[cal04]

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/critics_blast_jindals_hush-hush_health_care_privatization_push.php?ref=fpa


With his state facing a $1.6 billion budget hole, Governor Bobby Jindal is pushing to privatize the agency that manages Louisiana state employees' health insurance, even though -- or perhaps, because -- it's managed to amass a half billion dollar surplus. The Jindal administration is keeping quiet on the move, while critics are blasting it as a shortsighted plan that will benefit private interests, at the expense of the state's.

Last week, just as questions about Jindal's push to privatize the state's Office of Group Benefits (OGB) were getting louder, the agency's chief executive officer, Tommy Teague, was dismissed. This despite the fact that the agency had racked up most of its sizeable reserves during Teague's tenure at the top.

The OGB, a state agency within the Office of the Governor's Division of Administration (DoA), provides health insurance, accidental benefits and life insurance to nearly 150,000 active and retired state employees and more than 100,000 of their dependents. But the bulk of the agency's work is the health insurance.

Late last year, as the Jindal administration was looking at a projected $1.6 billion state budget deficit, it began dropping hints that it was considering privatizing part of the OGB to help plug the hole. At a press conference in December, Jindal said the state stood to save $100 million by privatizing just the Preferred Provider Organization, or PPO, portion of the agency's services. When the group's Policy and Planning Board next met on January 19, 2011, board members questioned Teague about the plans. The meeting's summary paraphrased Teague's response:

(more at link)

[DCKit]

1. (R)-dipshit governor + a huge pot of money that belongs to someone else.

Of course they're going to try to grab it. They've got friends to take care of and elections to worry about.

[KansDem]

2. I don't understand how a government looking at debt can privatize as a way to save money...

Isn't this bringing in a third party? And wouldn't that mean more expense, especially if that third party expects profits?

[SoCalDem]

3. Anytime there is a surplus..in ANYTHING, a republican will figure a way to steal it

It's what they do:(

[WillyT]

4. HUGE K & R !!!

:kick: