Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota joined Greta Van Susteren's show to brag about how he decided to play politics and refuse federal money for health care. As an editorial at the Minneapolis Star Tribune asked "How much federal money will Minnesota lose to other states because Gov. Tim Pawlenty dislikes the new federal health care reform law?"
Pawlenty's refusal of federal money smacks of politics.:
How much federal money will Minnesota lose to other states because Gov. Tim Pawlenty dislikes the new federal health care reform law?
The ticker clicked another $1 million on Wednesday, the deadline for Minnesota's application for a grant to help fund the establishment of an exchange at which people can shop for affordable health insurance.
That's chump change compared with the money he has already turned down, to the detriment of sick and needy Minnesotans and the professionals who treat them. The Republican governor has already spurned early enrollment of the state's poorest adults in the state-federal Medicaid program. DFL legislators say it would bring an additional $1.4 billion to the state's health care industry through 2013 and fund an estimated 22,000 private-sector health care jobs.
Also on Pawlenty's rejection list: $68 million to bring a federal high-risk insurance pool to Minnesota (a justifiable choice, since Minnesota's own pool is less expensive for most people than the federal one); $1 million for premium rate reviews, and $850,000 for teen-pregnancy prevention -- though Pawlenty did apply for a $500,000 abstinence-only sex ed grant. The latter program will cost the state an additional $350,000 and offers weaker evidence of effectiveness. Pawlenty must have been persuaded by something other than cost and results. Read on...
It's really pathetic this guy looks like he's putting presidential politics and his hope for a run in 2012 ahead of the citizens of his state. Shameless. I've said this before and I'll say it again. As bad as anyone on the left thought the weak tea we managed to get passed with this health care bill and with our corporate bought Senate was, all the Republicans will do is make it worse when given the chance as Pawlenty has shown us here. They don't care how many suffer as they help make the bill and its application worse instead of better to score political points. I feel for the residents of his state that deserve better leadership.
