Any Democrat who votes for this bill, risking reelection for a “noble legacy,” is double damned. Once this is enacted the number of people joining the government plan will snowball. Private insurers and employer-paid plans will wither as their pools dry up. A new influx of illegal aliens—many with chronic illnesses—will stampede across the border. The bureaucratic safeguards will be overwhelmed with massive fraud—from junkies scamming a bottle of morphine capsules to international crime syndicates milking billions from the system with elaborate schemes. I watched the above scenario happen when TennCare was enacted in Tennessee. TennCare ate through the state treasury like a crocodile as the state rolls swelled with out-of-staters and people making six-figure incomes. The fraud, waste and incompetence was too massive to control. Today we’re broke.
Brad, how did TennCare come into being? And what has happened to those who brought it about?