|
|
May 25, 2013
|
|
|
|
 Texas Medicaid’s Vast and Dangerous WastefulnessPosted on Sep 8, 2011By Joe Conason Both as governor of Texas and as the leading Republican presidential candidate, Rick Perry has established himself as a harsh critic of federal programs—and, in particular, as a “state’s rights” advocate who accuses Washington of gross ineptitude and waste in providing services such as health care for the poor and elderly. In his 2010 book “Fed Up” and in his campaign speeches, Perry has often asserted that the states, simply left to do the job without federal interference, could perform far better. The theme is highly popular, like Perry himself, in tea party circles. “It is through states that the American people get the job done every day,” he wrote in his book, “often in spite of a deeply flawed bureaucratic federal government.” Late last year, when he proposed that Texas drop out of Medicaid altogether, he said: “We know how to deliver health care to more people in a less expensive way than what the federal government does. I need more states to stand up and say we don’t want your strings attached. We don’t want you down here telling us how to run our business.” If only Texas could operate wholly independently of federal rules, he insisted, “you will see more people in the state of Texas who will have more coverage and frankly we’ll save money at the end of the day, as will the federal government.” Although Perry was forced to abandon that scheme when a state report showed that leaving Medicaid would cost Texas billions (and leave even more Texans uninsured), he still claims that the federal government should stop trying to make sure that more Americans have health care, and that programs run solely by the states would be more efficient. Advertisement Nor is that the only aspect of Perry’s record that belies his boasting. One of the most embarrassing episodes during his first two terms as governor involved a plan to let private firms run Medicaid, replacing state employees. The privatization plan was an “innovation” that was supposed to save money. What it accomplished instead was to earn enormous sums for contractors like Deloitte Touche and Accenture (along with their Texas lobbyists), while costing taxpayers still more hundreds of millions of dollars—and all without achieving its most basic objectives. Four years after the plan was implemented in 2003, the Austin American-Statesman published a thorough report on its results, and what the newspaper found was a project “in shambles.” The state had been forced to cancel its contract with the Accenture group and continue to use state employees to perform necessary work on an outdated computer system, exactly the same as before Perry’s privatization scheme began. How much had this great innovation cost the state? Approximately $500 million, not including the amount spent using the old system, at roughly $1 million a month. Unfortunately this fiasco wasted more than money and time, as paperwork vanished and patients suffered. As the Statesman reported, it may well have cost a 14-year-old boy named Devante Johnson his life. Left without health insurance for several months because of the Texas Medicaid enrollment bureaucracy, the Houston boy could not get treatment in time to save him from the kidney cancer that eventually killed him in March 2007. While it isn’t clear yet whether his administration’s Medicaid operations were corrupt or incompetent or both, none of this has fazed Perry at all. He went on to reappoint the Texas health and human services commissioner who oversaw the entire mess—and then to run for president himself, as the populist who will “reform” Social Security, Medicare and, of course, Medicaid. Joe Conason is the editor in chief of NationalMemo.com. © 2011 Creators.com  Previous item: 10 Years Later, It’s Time to ‘Broaden the Context’ Next item: Truthdigger of the Week: Mike Lofgren New and Improved CommentsIf you have trouble leaving a comment, review this help page. Still having problems? Let us know. If you find yourself moderated, take a moment to review our comment policy. |
A Cooler Century? Wait and See
 . '/' . substr('9780805086911',-6,3) . '/' . '9780805086911' . '.jpg'; ?>)
Email 
Print
Share
Email to a friend
Newsletter 
Like Us
Follow Us
Get Our Feed
Tags|Bazaar|Podcast|About Us|Contact Us|User Agreement|Privacy Policy|FAQ: Comments and Moderation | Google+
© 2013 Truthdig, LLC. All rights reserved.
By pewtergod, September 11, 2011 at 5:27 am Link to this comment
Excellent article. Perry is such a total phoney. The problem is that we have no one we can trust running for president in the next election. I wish Ralph or Bernie would run.
Report thisIn the past 30 years we have seen the hollowing out of government, with most of its functions being privatized, and I don’t know of a single case where this has been a positive thing for the American people.
By SoTexGuy, September 10, 2011 at 12:37 pm Link to this comment
Public assets.. public assets from investments like roads and utilities.. paid assets such as retirements, health care and even veterans’ services.. and the original hard assets of the State.. the land the waters the wildlife… turned to corporate profits.. That’s the real (whole) story.
Perry is a storm crow.. backed by a legion of short-term profit storm crows.. drought and climate change and raging fires are just more issues to drive profit.. State’s rights are inviolable if it’s something that profits him or his cronies.. Bastrop county is burning? .. where the heck is the fed?!
Perry tried unsuccessfully to turn a very valuable strip of Texas, north to south, over to a consortium of bankers in Spain.. the public hated it, the (pro Perry?) legislature stopped it.. but right down the road from me it now costs money to drive the same road I’ve used for almost 40 years.. He and his money-is-power
backers don’t give a hoot about Texas, Texans or the US of A. It’s money, period.
Perry tried to turn over a huge chunk of wild lands that belong to all Texans to the ultra-powerful Mexican cement cartel CEMEX.. it’s called the Black Gap Wildlife Management area.. adjacent to Big Bend National Park (and on the Mexico side a huge Cemex holding) That was rejected flatly by the legislature and overwhelming public opinion.. Nobody here thinks that’s the end of it by any means! But there’s little hope for justice.
You see it takes the singular effort of many people and organizations to stop some boondoggle or slush fund insider deal.. Those going after our taxes and welfare and even natural heritage are there all the time and during each session.. prodding, advising, paying.. It’s just business. Mostly they ultimately getting their way.
What every citizen loses when something like the Black Gap habitat is turned over to Mexican Cement Magnate or the once-magnificent free motor-ways of Texas are turned to making money for foreign banks.. is irreplaceable. This pattern is repeated across America, and the world, if you care to look.
Perry gets the admiration and votes of the uneducated but over-motivated classes. Buyah!
That’s just part of what I want to say about all that.
Adios!
Report thisBy traynorjf, September 9, 2011 at 12:13 pm Link to this comment
Hell, we have a governor, Rick Scott who stole from medicare and then was elected governor. Our last governor, Jeb Bush, exchanged U.S. treasuries for Lehman Bros. funny money and damn near broke the state of Florida. Our boys (as in good ol’) have Texas beat by a mile.
Report thisBy Hulk2008, September 9, 2011 at 9:52 am Link to this comment
Does this information in any way dissuade all the tea potty types from wanting to roll back health care reform?
Of course not.
The tea potty ilk just want power like their less strident Repug chums. It’s all about power and cash - they could care less about any form of real “care”.
Report thisBy Dr Bones, September 9, 2011 at 6:11 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
The Koch Bros sure know how to find the worst scumbag puppets. Has anyone suggested a boycott yet?
Report thisBy aacme88, September 9, 2011 at 5:58 am Link to this comment
You have to admit, like nobody knows how to build a car alarm better than Darrell Issa, nobody knows fraud and waste in government programs better than Rick Perry.
Report thisBy ardee, September 9, 2011 at 4:20 am Link to this comment
I applaud this article exposing Perry and all the neocons who continue to sell the electorate a bill of goods. I cannot help but wonder what public opinion might be if some elected official, say one with a “bully pulpit” for example, stood up and boldly told us all about these lies and actions in opposition to their stated opinions. If only…..
Report thisBy Billy Pilgrim, September 9, 2011 at 4:16 am Link to this comment
What is the importance of a young boy’s life when there
Report thisis money to be made? Does the author really believe the
ruling class give’s a rat’s ass about life? The only
object the moneyed class care’s about is a piece of
paper backed by the full faith and credit of the
American government, backed by nothing, increasingly
worthless, with arcane Freemason symbolism and In God
We Trust as it’s phony religious mantra.