Komikazi liberalism mugs Tennessee governor

Opinion Journal:

"You have the spotlight shined on you and then come along and get mugged." That's how Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, describes his recent ambush by MoveOn.org after his name was floated as a possible secretary of Health and Human Services.

Mr. Bredesen would seem to be the kind of pragmatic problem-solver that President Obama claims to favor. He's a Democrat elected twice in a red state and has been the CEO of Nashville-based HealthAmerica Corp. More important, he has seen how easily hopes for "universal coverage" can be dashed against the realities of cost and perverse incentives.

Mr. Bredesen came into office in 2003 when the TennCare Medicaid program was bankrupting his state. Launched in 1994 on the promise that it could expand coverage and lower costs via subsidies and managed care, the program had grown to consume a third of the state budget. TennCare participants paid virtually nothing, so they had no incentive to control costs.

The Governor spent two years trimming around the edges but was stymied by lawsuits and critics unhappy with any benefit limits. In 2005, he finally struck at the core of the program by paring back eligibility. About 170,000 people were cut from TennCare rolls in the first year, and some 320,000 have faced benefit cuts over three years.

Then Mr. Bredesen tried a different idea: He offered state-subsidized insurance to low-income workers, but with incentives to control costs, including co-pays and monthly premiums. The plan includes a cap on benefits of $25,000 a year. That's not enough to cover catastrophic medical events, but it does cover the health-care needs of most in the program. Monthly premiums are $150, with the state, employers and employees each picking up a third of the tab.

For MoveOn and the single-payer lobby, Mr. Bredesen's approach is unacceptable because government doesn't run everything. In a petition it has been circulating, MoveOn says that Mr. Bredesen would be a "bad choice" to run HHS because he "gutted" TennCare and made a "fortune acquiring and running HMOs." Never mind that TennCare was breaking the state before Mr. Bredesen arrived.

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The MoveOn Democrats are desperate for rationed health care that will bankrupt the country that is already being pushed to the edge by the big Democrat stimulus package monstrosity. Obama needs to stand up to MoveOn on this before they ruin his presidency.

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