Thursday, March 3, 2011

Buddy Roemer said some things that hit home on Morning Joe this AM

Buddy Roemer,  former governor of Louisiana who lost his position to  KKK David Duke and who switched from a Democrat to a Republican while in office, is a true populist. He is throwing his hat into the ring for the GOP nomination. While I remain a firm supporter of Pres. Obama because I too see him as a reformer driven more by idealism than corruption, more of  populist than not, and tempered by incumbent experience in foreign policy,    what  Roemer said rang a bell in several fronts:
1. He railed against "institutional" corruption of those for sale in Washington to campaign contributors and when leaving DC are looking for the next job with their favorite special interest (I am paraphrasing...since these points are not exactly posted on his web site)
2. Health care reform: I have always agreed with the point he raised: we need tort reform. He claimed it would reduce health care costs 15%. (I am not sure how he arrives at this, but I do believe mal practice suits can be reformed using a wide variety of  tools besides just putting caps on pain and suffering awards...arbitration or other lower cost ways to settle disputes)
3. Subjecting health insurers to Sherman Anti Trust action.  Currently they are exempted, which means they are free to work out pricing with their competitors and indulge in other anti competitive practices.  Blue Cross and United and other major insurers straddle state lines...with a sister company in other states...making a mockery of cross state competition as a way to lower health care costs.  If there is an Achilles heel to Obamacare, it is that depending upon competition to keep costs down within the exchange program will be ineffective without anti trust action.  If there is an Achilles heel to the GOP claiming cross state competition and letting the private sector compete instead of Obamacare, this is it, too. Health insurance is not a free market system now; it will take anti trust action to make competition happen.

No comments:

Post a Comment