What Does a Governor from Tennessee Think about Health Reform?
In the October 21, Wall Street Journal the Democratic governor of Tennessee, Philip Bredesen, wrote a very thought provoking article on some of the unintended consequences of the new PPACA / ObamaCare. He does an excellent job in outlining what could happen with the state of Tennessee employees under the new health reform law.
His argument is their state could save a substantial amount of money if their employees opt out of the employer plan (in this case, the state of Tennessee plan). One problem with his assumption is if all employees go into the exchange and the premiums continue to rise in the exchange that cost will ultimately come back to the state to make up.
However, in the short-term, the governor makes a good argument for savings by moving employees to the exchange. Remember I said short-term. Long-term this is not a sustainable solution.
Tennessee: call Massachusetts and ask them how their health program is doing now that it has been in place for awhile.
Editorial Writer Joe Rago on GOP plans for health-care reform.