The health care reform plan adopted by Congress this spring "will not work" and will have to be revamped next year, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said today.
"I don't think there is anybody in this industry who thinks this bill is going to work," Corker said after meeting with top officials with BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, the state's biggest health insurer. "The funding just won't work."
Corker, who helped oversee Tennessee's TennCare program as commissioner of finance and administration in the 1990s, said one of every three Tennesseans will be on the state's Medicaid plan once the health care plan fully is in place in the next four years. That will be too costly for the state and federal government and help drive up overall health care costs, Corker said.
Already, Corker noted that private insurers in Tennessee have dropped child-only coverage plans for individuals "as a direct consequence" of the new health care law.
Corker said it probably is unrealistic to repeal the entire law as long as Obama is president, since the White House can veto any repeal attempt. But he said "the change in Washington from the upcoming elections" should produce changes in parts of the overall package in 2011.
For complete details, see tomorrow's Chattanooga Times Free Press.