Yesterday I attended the health care forum in Mitchell put on by Senator Tim Johnson and Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. Seth Tupper’s report blows the cover off and exposes the partisan agenda:
It’s possible that Herseth Sandlin and Johnson already knew Gregg’s story, because as Herseth Sandlin said to representatives of the media before the hearing, the panelists were selected by the two officials’ offices.
And most failed to understand the root cause of the problem explained by Daryl Kilstrom, executive director of LifeQuest in Mitchell. LifeQuest provides services to the developmental handicapped which is largely funded by Medicaid. He explained that Medicaid has provided very little increases over that last several years, while health care insurance premiums have sky rocketed. Unlike LifeQuest, other health care providers also have clients who are covered by private insurance. It was pointed out that Medicare & Medicaid reimbursements do not cover the entire costs. So in order to stay in business, a provider would have to shift those unpaid costs to other customers, including those who have proivate insurance. That has to be a large root cause to the rising cost of private health insurance. A problem caused by government intervention via Medicaid & Medicare.
Common senses and the use of reason would then say that more government is not the solution, but rather less government is the reform needed.
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