Friday, December 28, 2007

Beshear's Campaign Promises Dropping Like Flies

In his weekly column, Bluegrass Institute's Jim Waters says if we really want to lower healthcare costs we will push to allow people to buy insurance across state lines and let individuals purchase coverage just like businesses do -- with pre-tax dollars.
Typically, with the Bush vetoes came attempts to label him as the Grinch who stole health care from needy kids. But the president made the right decision.

Bush argued that expanding the program would hurt kids. It would “move children who already have private health insurance to government coverage,” he said.

Buckeye Institute researcher Marc Kilmer agrees: “Kids who would have had better private care will instead be using substandard government care.”

All of this sounds Grinch-like to those with an inclination to expand public programs rather than look for better solutions.

Reality is forcing Governor Steve Beshear to abandon more and more of his pie-in-the-sky plans. Cutting spending and state employee benefits will be the first two dominoes to fall. Casino gambling has no chance in a possible GOP super-majority Senate. Might socialized health insurance be next?