Jindal Care

The American Spectator ^ | December 17, 2008 | Joseph Lawler

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

"I say this with good conscience: every year we don't do anything about the uninsured, we end up, by default, moving closer to a single-payer system," Louisiana Secretary of Health and Hospitals Alan Levine warned TAS in an interview. "Because every year, more people get enrolled in Medicare, more people get enrolled in Medicaid, and more people get enrolled in SCHIP... that by itself is having a death spiral effect on private insurance." And a single-payer system, he added, "would be a disaster."

Levine is the man Governor Bobby Jindal has entrusted with the Louisiana Health First Iniative, an overhaul of Louisiana's woefully underperforming Medicaid system. The plan, which has met with approval from free-market health care experts, is scheduled to reach the Louisiana legislature around the same time as a national health care overhaul advocated by President-elect Barack Obama would reach Congress.

While Jindal and Levine believe they can expand insurance coverage by fixing Medicaid, Obama advocates a comprehensive reform at the national level that would mandate universal coverage under a massively federalized system. In the past, Obama has even stated that he favors a single-payer -- meaning socialized -- system.

To forestall this process, Levine and Jindal want to move to a more market-based system. The current Medicaid model in Louisiana is fee-for-service: doctors perform procedures and then send the bill along to the state. Their incentives are terribly misaligned, rewarding the quantity of procedures performed instead of improved patient health outcomes.

[trumandogz]

There is really nothing that Jindal can do, Louisiana is a Welfare State and has been since long before Jindal was born.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

IN THE LOUISIANA Health First plan, every Medicaid recipient would have a choice of at least two coordinated care networks (CCN), which would be obligated to accept any Medicaid recipient who applied. The state would then pay the CCN a flat fee per customer, issuing risk-adjusted premiums to subsidize people with poor health or pre-existing conditions. The CCN would then obtain medical services for its subscribers, bargaining with hospitals and clinics and monitoring customers' progress.

I am all in favor of Republicans issuing our own version of healthcare reform. It is essential to winning, IMO. That said, there are a few elements in this plan which make me uncomfortable. First, the centralized electronic medical record base. The government doesn't need to know your private business. Second, this program is dictated from the top down. It's not simply about providing insurance for everyone but about controlling fees and outcomes. Third, you can't place all the blame for poor outcome on the healthcare providers. The patient is ultimately responsible for his diet, exercise or lack thereof and healthy lifestyle.

The above, while claiming to be free market, has a socialized feel to it.

BobbyJ gets points for trying but ultimately the fix has to come from those who treat patients, not the government. If you haven't worked in the field you don't know the issues involved.

[mylife]

Here is an idea... “get gubmint OUT of medicine”

75% of my health care dollar goes to admin fees now.

The Doc gets screwed and I get screwed but , hey... we are stimulating the economy by spending all this money on none value added service.

Obama is going to make it worse

[paul51]

I see problems with both the fee for service model and the flat fee per customer model.
Perhaps the ideal solution would be some sort of morph between the two.
I any event, anyone who thinks washington will solve this problem doesn't have an understanding of washington’s record of solving problems. If they did, they would be standing up for shutting washington down.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Being poor doesn’t have to equal being unhealthy. These days the American poor are grossly obese. No one has to eat out regularly at fast food restaurants. Growing your own fruits and vegetables costs little if you have the space, quitting smoking and booze will free up a lot of money and immediately improve one’s health, and walking is free not to mention the benefits of maintaining a healthy weight for one’s body frame.

It’s not about money. It’s about attitude and choice.

[trumandogz]

My family is from Louisiana, I have family there and I maintain a part time residence in the state.

So here goes. Louisiana is not the most unhealthy state because they are poor, they are the most unhealthy state because they have a lot of people that are uneducated, maintain a horrible diet, do not exercise and smoke & drink too much.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Ping!

[abb]

So here goes. Louisiana is not the most unhealthy state because they are poor, they are the most unhealthy state because they have a lot of people that are uneducated, maintain a horrible diet, do not exercise and smoke & drink too much.

The other day perdogg said the same thing, and he added we all were poor drivers, too.

I set him straight and informed him I was an excellent driver!!

ROFLMAO!!

[trumandogz]

I should have added that but I thought that would have been clear when I said they drank too much.

I recall when I was around 7 or 8 and in New Orleans I asked my dad why the people did not know how to drive.

“Boy, the people here are 50 years behind the times.”

And sure, I would rather kick off at 60 eating my mama’s gumbo than live to be 86 in Boston eating baked beans.

[abb]

The two cultures of Louisiana have always been amazing to me. North Louisiana, where I was born, raised and still live, is more like Georgia, Alabama or Mississippi.

My antecedents, however are from South Louisiana and I have scads of relations around the Baton Rouge area. I keep in touch from time to time. They are definitely different.

[nmh]

Don’t worry the bashers will arrive soon.

Mitt had the same problem ... .

[trumandogz]

My people think anyone who lives north of I-10 are Damn Yankees.

[abb]

Redneck. If you look it up in the dictionary, my picture is there, lol.

[trumandogz]

How about the people that say Obama cannot be a natural born citizen, even if he was born is Hawaii, due to the fact that his father was not an American citizen?

Will they be consistent and say that Jindal cannot be a natural born citizen because neither of his parents were American citizens at the time of his birth?

[plain talk]

a lot of people that are uneducated, maintain a horrible diet, do not exercise and smoke & drink too much.

... and reside at the end of the Mississippi river.

[cfogel1973]

“Will they be consistent and say that Jindal cannot be a natural born citizen because neither of his parents were American citizens at the time of his birth?”

I really do not have a dog in this birth certificate fight but I assumed it was because Obama’s daddy was a subject of the British royal family. Whereas Jindal’s parents do not fall under the jurisdiction of the British royal family.

[neverdem]

thanks, bfl

[aMorePerfectUnion]

CoD,
I agree with you 100%
ampu

[Wonder Warthog]

"BobbyJ gets points for trying but ultimately the fix has to come from those who treat patients, not the government. If you haven't worked in the field you don't know the issues involved."

From Wikipedia: "Following high school, Jindal attended Brown University, graduating with honors in biology and public policy.[7] Although he had thought of a career in medicine or law and was accepted by Harvard Medical School and Yale Law School, he chose to pursue a political career."

So he has professional education in fields related to medicine. Add to that the fact that he actually RAN the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, taking it from a $400 million deficit to $220 million surpluses.

Jindal knows more about fixing health care than ANY physician. And likely far more than any other politician.