Last week, Congressman André Carson and Congressman Baron Hill penned a letter to Governor Mitch Daniels, urging him to reconsider his knee-jerk reaction to the passage of landmark health care reform. As it turns out, what Governor Daniels said in the immediate aftermath of the bill’s passage was, to put it mildly, a little off-base:
The Healthy Indiana Plan does not have to be terminated because of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, according to the director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS.In March, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels ordered the state’s medical savings accounts for low-income adults through the Healthy Indiana Plan, or HIP, to be phased out. He also closed HIP for new enrollees.
Daniels said Hoosiers enrolled in the state plan would be picked up by Medicaid through the new federal health care overhaul.
“I see no reason to add people to the rolls of a program whose days are numbered,” Daniels told The Associated Press.
But in a memo addressed to U.S. Rep. Baron Hill, D-Ind., CMS Director Cynthia Mann stated, “Indiana is in no way required to terminate its Healthy Indiana Plan,” which is approved through Dec. 31, 2012.
Hoosiers owe both of these great Democratic leaders our thanks for sticking up for our state.
Gov. Daniels reaction to Congress passing Health Care reform is typical. Daniels was against the bailouts of the banks and automotive industry, and stimulus monies for the States, but yet he accepted them. When Washington gave our State millions of dollars for education programs, he took that money and put it towards the State’s budget deficit, and claimed that he balanced the budget. We know that the money that the State received from the 75 year lease of the Toll Roads was invested in Junk Bonds, and risky investments, however we can not get an account of how much of that money was lost in the market. Governor Daniels is an expert at playing the Shell Game with our tax dollars. He complains against any program that our party creates to help our country move forward, and then profits from those programs by taking the money to cover up his mismanagement of our State. By him canceling the HIP Program, is another way for him to cut much needed services to our low income families, needy children, and Hoosiers with disabilities. Most likely he will take that funding that was designated for HIP, and put it towards more risky investments. Daniels claims that he was a successful businessman, and claims that government needs to ran like a business. However, if he is using the same methods to run our State Government that he used to run his companies, I doubt that he was that successful in business. Before Daniels came back to Indiana to run for Governor, he Secretary of the Office of Budget and Management (OMB), under President George W. Bush. As Secretary, he approved of the Federal bailouts of World Com and Enron. There are things that we can learn from business like how to be more efficient in our spending, and maximizing our material and human resources. Where I disagree with the idea of running government like a business, is that government is not out to make a profit! Government, unlike business, does not serve exclusive demographic groups. For example, Apple gears it’s advertising for it’s IPod to persons aged 15 to say 35 years old. Government is in the business to serve all of it’s people, not certain segments of the population. Now critics might say that aid to needy families, or the elderly is an example of government serving a particular segment of the population. I argue that these programs and services were created to help these groups, however, one day we or members of our family, and friends, may need these services to get back on our feet. God willing one day we will all get to reach old age, and may need Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security.
Governor Daniels leadership is abysmal, and I guarantee that our next Governor will have the same challenges that President Obama faces, after 8 years of President Bush. Thank you Congressman Carson and Hill for standing up for Hoosiers.
Thanks for what–the loss of jobs, the increase in premiums, or the increase in the national debt by passage of this abysmal health care bill.
Daniels actions are a clear case of politics coming before the people. By abruptly cutting off of the HIP program, he causes headaches for Indiana gov administrators and the hurts the people affected by that program. This is obviously a move to make the reform of health care hurt people so he blame his opponents for it.
I’m an independent voter; but Daniel’s actions are typical Republican politics. Goes hand in hand with Republicans sending someone from Carmel IN to our area to run against Hill.
Keep up the great work!