Kerry Spot    [ jim geraghty reporting ]
[ kerry spot home | archives | email ]

Via Instapundit, blogger Doug Petch writes that the battle over Tennessee's health care system could have ramifications for the 2008 Democratic presidential primary.

Bill Clinton is quoted as predicting that the U.S. will one day "...have a medical coverage plan that will look like TennCare."

Never mind, of course, that [Democratic] Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen is currently working to at least down scope - and at most dismantle - the system that is slowly bankrupting the state.

It is no secret that both President and Senator Clinton advocate some form of universal health insurance. No doubt they saw the TennCare experiment as a chance to prove that it could be done, albeit on a smaller scale. But, in his effort to shine the best possible light on TennCare in the face of its impending failure, the President makes this seemingly contradictory statement:

''Ned Ray did this at a time when we were making real efforts to control the costs of health care. But the economy grew faster. No state can handle this alone, having an unprecedented number of people dropped into the system.''

I would welcome it if someone smarter than me would explain how an economy that "grew faster" resulted in more people requiring Medicaid-like health insurance. Or how a fast growing economy hurts the ability of a state to fund its programs.

As I've said previously, events in Tennessee bear watching in the context of the next Presidential Election. It's a given that Hillary Clinton is considered the presumptive early front-runner. Phil Bredesen is at best a dark horse, but it appears that the Clinton's are watching his attempts to return sanity to Tennessee's health care system with more than a little interest.

Phil Bredesen is a Democrat who has won in the South, obviously. By 2008, will Democrats be seriously seeking a member of their party who has demonstrated an ability to win in a red state? Of course, he faces reelection in 2006.

Would any Democrat be devious enough to help Hillary by running a primary challenge against him?

[Posted 12/28 09:35 AM]