Day: April 24, 2014

Thursday, April 24th, 2014
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

TO BOBBY JINDAL –-JUST DO IT!

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal made a splash of headlines a few weeks ago by proposing his alternative to Obamacare. Many of his ideas are the part of the same list he’s been shopping around for years, some of it pieced together from a litany of Republican proposals. He’s being blistered by a number of state and national columnists for not putting forth anything new or original.

But just because the proposals did not originate from Jindal himself is no cause to at least not give a good look at his suggestions. I’m not concerned that Jindal’s ideas are unoriginal. If he’s to be criticized for anything, it should be for his lack of follow through.

Jindal’s health reform list includes pooling for small businesses, pay for performance, health savings accounts, and change in lifestyles to reduce the likelihood of chronic disease, insurance reform, and medical lawsuit reform. He is suggesting that nurse practitioners and other medical professionals be given more leeway in what they can do.

He endorses high risk pools for those who are hard to insure, something, by the way, that some obscure Louisiana Insurance Commissioner put into place back in the 1990’s. (I think his name was Brown.) Jindal’s to do list also includes offering financial incentives for more healthy behavior and a crack down on what the Governor describes as “rampant fraud” in government healthcare programs. Continue Reading…….