Former HHS Secretary Under Bush Sees Need for Obamacare Health Insurace, Despite Problems

MedCity News ^ | Sunday, November 10, 2013 | Patrick McCreless

[kristinn]

A former secretary of Health and Human Services under a Republican president supports President Obama's health care reform law, saying it is similar to a Republican-backed plan he helped develop 20 years ago.

Dr. Louis Sullivan, the HHS secretary under President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1993, said Friday during a visit to Anniston that despite its flaws, the Affordable Care Act will benefit millions of uninsured, low-income Americans. Sullivan visited Anniston to tour the Sarrell Dental Center to learn how the facility provides affordable care to low-income children.

Sullivan is CEO and chairman of the Sullivan Alliance, a nonprofit that works to improve health care for low-income and minority Americans. Anniston-based Sarrell Dental has 15 clinics across the state and serves children on Medicaid.

"I'm for the Affordable Care Act -- it's an imperfect build and has a number of things that need to be addressed, but rather than working to try to dismantle it, we should work to improve it," Sullivan said.

SNIP

Sullivan said Bush introduced the similar health reform plan in 1992, but it did not get far in Congress, which was controlled by Democrats at the time.

"The plan had the similar concept of the health insurance exchange, but now the Republican Party is attacking the same concept," Sullivan said. "I'm not for that kind of political one-upmanship."

According to press accounts from 1992, under the Bush plan, low-income Americans not covered by Medicaid would have received tax credits to help pay for insurance. The ACA insurance exchange also offers tax credits to offset insurance costs. Press accounts also noted that other Republicans supported the plan, but it had little chance of becoming law since Democrats controlled Congress and favored more ambitious approaches to health care reform.

[DoughtyOne]

Perhaps you can figure out a reason to support John McCain. I sure can’t. He’s in cahoots with Soros and Teressa Heinz Kerry, as well as some of the most disturbing Democrats on Capital Hill.

Let’s talk about reasons not to support the guy. Nevermind, we don’t have a month to cover it all.

One of the problems we have sending folks back to DC, is that they fall in with the wrong crowd and morph their behavior. With her endorsement of McCain, she let it be known she’was willing to do just that.

And then her she bought into the no amnesty amnesty plan.

No thanks.

I’m tired of ignoring what people actually do hoping they’ll turn into the real deal.

[MrB]

More people have lost their health insurance that had it
than will get health insurance that didn’t have it.

It will cost more to implement Obamacare
than it would have to pay the insurance premiums for people who wanted insurance but couldn’t afford it.

So, there’s obviously other reasons for Obamacare than the ones they’ve been giving.

[trebb]

Perhaps you can figure out a reason to support John McCain. I sure can’t. He’s in cahoots with Soros and Teressa Heinz Kerry, as well as some of the most disturbing Democrats on Capital Hill. Let’s talk about reasons not to support the guy. Nevermind, we don’t have a month to cover it all. One of the problems we have sending folks back to DC, is that they fall in with the wrong crowd and morph their behavior. With her endorsement of McCain, she let it be known she’was willing to do just that. And then her she bought into the no amnesty amnesty plan. No thanks. I’m tired of ignoring what people actually do hoping they’ll turn into the real deal.

Wow. You took a simple generality and turned it into something entirely different. But you did demonstrate my comments to a "T" by deciding I think we should support McCain - how did you manage that?

You and others have taken some of my recent overhead general statements and turned them into some sort of perceived personal attack. While there may be a number of reasons, I won't discount guilt pangs.

[DoughtyOne]

Trebb, if you think about it, you didn’t say you endorsed or voted for him. Why did you jump to the conclusion I was taking you to task?

Someone else did endorse him. That you did allude to in your post, and I made these comments based on the person that did endorse him, not you.

I sometimes misread criticism thinking it’s directed at me, so no problem here. I just want you to know I wasn’t focusing on you.

You stated something to the effect that some people may have seen good reason to support him. You may have been more specific, I don’t remember now. I believe you came pretty close to suggesting Palin. I may be off base on that.

At any rate..., later.

[Theodore R.]

A lot of it is the fault of GWB, who seemed to have his head in the sand for six or more years.

[MUDDOG]

Indirectly maybe in that he and the GOP in general have been too accommodating of big gov't. But he was blocked by the Dems when he tried to rein in the gov't mortgage scam which led to the financial collapse contributing to the election of Obama. Having McCain as a candidate didn't help either.

But to the extent that Bush's eight-year presidency contributed to the election of a Democrat in '08, he bears some blame. However, the Dems had been trying to get national healthcare for decades, and were going to do it the first chance they got, Bush or no Bush, and they bear the responsibility for it.