Academic

TENNESSEE?S DEMOCRATIC GOVERNOR PHIL BREDESEN criticizes Obama?s Health Care plan. Bredesen, co-c?

By Glenn Reynolds

TENNESSEE’S DEMOCRATIC GOVERNOR PHIL BREDESEN criticizes Obama’s Health Care plan.

Bredesen, co-chair for health care policy for the National Governor?s Association, is objecting to a provision in House and Senate bills to expand Medicaid to cover anyone with incomes less than 133 percent of the poverty level, or $29,327 for a family of four.

Since states pay roughly one third of Medicaid, the provision could add billions of dollars in costs to state governments. Bredesen calls it ?the mother of all unfunded mandates,? and he?s been making his case to reporters for weeks now at every opportunity.

?We can?t print money,? he says. ?We can?t borrow money. A lot of staffers in Congress really don?t understand this idea of a balanced budget.?

It’s not just the staffers. And stuff like this is why I’d have liked to see Bredesen as Health Czar. Or, for that matter, President . . . .

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on September 17, 2009 (boomark / email).