Just Say No

I just finished up a quick phone interview with an NBC affiliate in TN. There's a lot of buzz about the possibility of their governor - Phil Bredesen - being considered as Daschle's replacement as the HHS nominee.

Here is the statement we made yesterday when reporters asked what we thought of the possibility:

“A lot of elected officials are in bed with the insurance industry, but Phil Bredesen doesn’t stop there. He let them pay to redecorate his mansion. We can’t think of anyone more wrong for health care reform or more wrong for America. This is a guy whose single greatest health care achievement is stripping 200,000 people of health care coverage in Tennessee – a move that was not only bad policy but an unconscionable act.”

You can read a little more about Bredesen's despicable health care record here.

Meanwhile, Politico, Bloomberg, and the AP all picked up our reaction to Bredesen. That's how I keep getting calls from the local media. It's also why I keep checking to see how others are reacting, including Bredesen himself who said this:

[H]e said that “whatever happens in the end, I don’t think it (their criticisms) will be terribly meaningful. I think there’s also lots of other groups, professional health care groups and the like, who are very admiring of what we did with TennCare. And I think ultimately, if it were to be an issue their views would carry more weight.”

Did you catch that? The health insurance companies and folks like them ADMIRE what he did with TennCare. These are the people he thinks knows will back him in the health care reform fight. You know who else backs Bredesen? Dr. "I can diagnose a woman via video tape" Frist:

But former U.S. Senate majority leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., defended both Gov. Bredesen and Rep. Cooper, saying he has “tremendous respect for Gov. Bredesen.”

Dr. Frist, a physician, cited the gubernatorial experience of Gov. Bredesen and alluded to his management and administrative experience as a former HMO entrepreneur.

We've let HMO entrepreneurs and other private insurance corporate interests steer health care in this country for too long.

Let's all say, No More!