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thatcrazycajunMy state's insurance commissioner, John Oxendine, told the newsies yesterday (see article here) that the new federal health-care reform law may require an insurance pool to be set up for high-risk patients, and even allocates funds for it...but Georgia won't be part of it if he has any say in the matter. And sadly, he does have quite a bit.
Well may it boggle your mind that the person in charge of regulating a state's health insurance industry would deliberately let hundreds of thousands without coverage remain that way—and possibly get injured or ill, get no or inadequate treatment, and even die. It begins to make a twisted kind of sense, however, once you know two things: 1) Oxendine is a Republican (you can't possibly be surprised in the least, can you?), and 2) he is campaigning for his party's gubernatorial nomination this summer, hoping to succeed his party's incumbent, Ervin "Sonny" Perdue III, in this fall's election. (Perdue, thank God and the authors of the current state constitution, cannot run for a third term.)
Look at the language of Oxey's statement: "I cannot commit the state of Georgia to ... a scheme which I believe the Supreme Court will hold to be unconstitutional, leads to the further expansion of the federal government, undermines the financial security of our nation, and potentially commits the state of Georgia to future financial obligations." No petty bureaucrat issues such a fulminating denunciation of a federal law he's asked to implement, larded with right-wing phraseology and GOP talking points, unless he's shamelessly pandering to his party's base—which to an alleged person are almost literally foaming at the mouth about "ObamaCare." This is of a piece with the lawsuit being brought against the feds to overturn the law by 14 state attorneys general (all but one Repugs, and the last is from my home state and might as well be one too), and Perdue's threat to have the Peach State join the suit, with a specially-appointed AG if need be. (Let's leave aside the numerous opinions of constitutional-law experts that the suit hasn't a sno-cone's chance in New Orleans on a JazzFest weekend.)
Now, if Oxendine would rather curry favor with tea-party goons and movement conservatives to gain the top job than do the one for which he's currently being paid by the State of Georgia (and quite handsomely, I might add), he has the right to that preference...so long as he follows the example of his party-mates (and rivals for the nomination), former GA SecState Karen Handel and Rep. Nathan Deal, and resigns his present employment to campaign full-time. If he still insists on using the IC's office to score political points on the backs of health-care-lacking Georgia residents, he needs to be fired...or impeached, since it's a lead-pipe cinch Perdue won't can his sorry ass for this.
Well may it boggle your mind that the person in charge of regulating a state's health insurance industry would deliberately let hundreds of thousands without coverage remain that way—and possibly get injured or ill, get no or inadequate treatment, and even die. It begins to make a twisted kind of sense, however, once you know two things: 1) Oxendine is a Republican (you can't possibly be surprised in the least, can you?), and 2) he is campaigning for his party's gubernatorial nomination this summer, hoping to succeed his party's incumbent, Ervin "Sonny" Perdue III, in this fall's election. (Perdue, thank God and the authors of the current state constitution, cannot run for a third term.)
Look at the language of Oxey's statement: "I cannot commit the state of Georgia to ... a scheme which I believe the Supreme Court will hold to be unconstitutional, leads to the further expansion of the federal government, undermines the financial security of our nation, and potentially commits the state of Georgia to future financial obligations." No petty bureaucrat issues such a fulminating denunciation of a federal law he's asked to implement, larded with right-wing phraseology and GOP talking points, unless he's shamelessly pandering to his party's base—which to an alleged person are almost literally foaming at the mouth about "ObamaCare." This is of a piece with the lawsuit being brought against the feds to overturn the law by 14 state attorneys general (all but one Repugs, and the last is from my home state and might as well be one too), and Perdue's threat to have the Peach State join the suit, with a specially-appointed AG if need be. (Let's leave aside the numerous opinions of constitutional-law experts that the suit hasn't a sno-cone's chance in New Orleans on a JazzFest weekend.)
Now, if Oxendine would rather curry favor with tea-party goons and movement conservatives to gain the top job than do the one for which he's currently being paid by the State of Georgia (and quite handsomely, I might add), he has the right to that preference...so long as he follows the example of his party-mates (and rivals for the nomination), former GA SecState Karen Handel and Rep. Nathan Deal, and resigns his present employment to campaign full-time. If he still insists on using the IC's office to score political points on the backs of health-care-lacking Georgia residents, he needs to be fired...or impeached, since it's a lead-pipe cinch Perdue won't can his sorry ass for this.
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Oxendine
Date: 2010-04-13 11:08 pm (UTC)Nate
Re: Oxendine
Date: 2010-04-14 01:02 am (UTC)Re: Oxendine
Date: 2010-04-19 02:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-13 11:40 pm (UTC)