In case you thought he didn't have it in him. The Guv's take on Obama care and the trouble ahead for Indiana:
We Good Europeans
For now, we better start adjusting to our new status as good Europeans.
By MITCH DANIELS
As if governors these days don't have enough on their plates. Now that
ObamaCare has become law, there's a whole new to-do list for my state:
1) Plan for the termination of our Healthy Indiana Plan. This is the
program that's currently providing health insurance to 50,000
low-income Hoosiers. With its health savings account-style personal
accounts, it has been enormously popular among its participants. I
hope those folks will do all right when they are pitched into
Medicaid.
2) Start preparing voters for a state tax increase. The axe won't fall
until someone else is governor. But when we are forced to expand
Medicaid to one in every four citizens, the cost will add several
hundred million dollars to the budget.
3) Check to see if Indiana should drop its health insurance plans and
dump its government workers into the exchanges. Paying the new tax
penalty might actually be cheaper for the state, as it will be for
many private firms. I'm not certain the same rule applies to
government as to business, but since no member of Congress read this
entire bill before the vote, I don't feel embarrassed about not
knowing.
4) Ramp up our job retraining programs to handle those who will be
fired by our medical device companies, student loan providers, and
small businesses as they wrestle with new taxes, penalties, or in the
student loan case, outright nationalization of their business.
5) Call the state's attorney general to see if we can join one of the
lawsuits to overturn ObamaCare. Yes, it's a long shot. But why not
try?
6) Investigate an offset to all this extra cost. We may no longer need
the Department of Insurance since insurers will now be operating as
regulated utilities under the thumb of the federal government.
It's discouraging that all of this could have been avoided. Congress
could have done what Republicans should suggest now: Shift to a system
that allows individuals—not businesses—to buy health insurance tax
free. They could also create tax credits for buying health insurance
based on income and health status to guarantee everyone coverage and
encourage medical care and insurance competition. Republicans should
push to lower barriers for buying insurance across state lines, create
incentives for states to repeal mandates, and limit frivolous lawsuits
that increase the price of insurance.
But for the moment, our federal overlords have ruled. We better start
adjusting to our new status as good Europeans.
We Good Europeans
For now, we better start adjusting to our new status as good Europeans.
By MITCH DANIELS
As if governors these days don't have enough on their plates. Now that
ObamaCare has become law, there's a whole new to-do list for my state:
1) Plan for the termination of our Healthy Indiana Plan. This is the
program that's currently providing health insurance to 50,000
low-income Hoosiers. With its health savings account-style personal
accounts, it has been enormously popular among its participants. I
hope those folks will do all right when they are pitched into
Medicaid.
2) Start preparing voters for a state tax increase. The axe won't fall
until someone else is governor. But when we are forced to expand
Medicaid to one in every four citizens, the cost will add several
hundred million dollars to the budget.
3) Check to see if Indiana should drop its health insurance plans and
dump its government workers into the exchanges. Paying the new tax
penalty might actually be cheaper for the state, as it will be for
many private firms. I'm not certain the same rule applies to
government as to business, but since no member of Congress read this
entire bill before the vote, I don't feel embarrassed about not
knowing.
4) Ramp up our job retraining programs to handle those who will be
fired by our medical device companies, student loan providers, and
small businesses as they wrestle with new taxes, penalties, or in the
student loan case, outright nationalization of their business.
5) Call the state's attorney general to see if we can join one of the
lawsuits to overturn ObamaCare. Yes, it's a long shot. But why not
try?
6) Investigate an offset to all this extra cost. We may no longer need
the Department of Insurance since insurers will now be operating as
regulated utilities under the thumb of the federal government.
It's discouraging that all of this could have been avoided. Congress
could have done what Republicans should suggest now: Shift to a system
that allows individuals—not businesses—to buy health insurance tax
free. They could also create tax credits for buying health insurance
based on income and health status to guarantee everyone coverage and
encourage medical care and insurance competition. Republicans should
push to lower barriers for buying insurance across state lines, create
incentives for states to repeal mandates, and limit frivolous lawsuits
that increase the price of insurance.
But for the moment, our federal overlords have ruled. We better start
adjusting to our new status as good Europeans.
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legislation.
