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Madonna, Ritchie get preliminary divorce decree
Southern Ledger - November 21, 2008
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Microsoft lets Zune music subscribers keep tunes
Southern Ledger - November 21, 2008
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Astronauts end spacewalk to repair gummed-up joint
Southern Ledger - November 21, 2008
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Shuttle gives space station a mile-high boost
Southern Ledger - November 21, 2008
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Germany drops attempt to ban Scientology
Southern Ledger - November 21, 2008
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Bulgarian archaeologists unearth ancient chariot
Southern Ledger - November 21, 2008
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Madonna, Ritchie granted preliminary divorce
Southern Ledger - November 21, 2008
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Blast kills 8 mourners at Pakistani funeral
Southern Ledger - November 21, 2008
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China 19,000 victims identified from May quake
Southern Ledger - November 21, 2008
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TIME FOR REAL HEALTHCARE REFORM IN TENNESSEE
September 20, 2005 -
September 27, 2005
For over a decade Tennessee has struggled to manage the economic “black hole” of TennCare without ever addressing two key fundamental principles that must be a part of offering affordable access to health care: accountability and responsibility. Instead of fixing TennCare in reliance on those principles we have instead chosen to apply a series of expensive band-aids that allowed uncontrolled costs, rampant fraud and abuse, and fundamental design flaws which continue to threaten to break the backs of Tennessee taxpayers.
At this point, there are essentially three basic ways to reform the health care delivery system in Tennessee. We could institute a government-mandated universal coverage “pay or play” scheme – but that has proven unworkable and unaffordable in other cases. Or, we could continue with and expand the TennCare “single-payer” type program that has proven so disastrous, both in terms of costs and effective delivery of services. Neither of these options will work.
We should try something new, a third way: a comprehensive market-based reform program that would provide nearly a million uninsured Tennesseans with access to affordable healthcare insurance and help to control the rising costs of healthcare for all Tennesseans by injecting a strong dose of consumer, market driven, responsibility and accountability into the system.
The Tennessee Comprehensive Accountability and Responsibility Enhancement System (TNCARES) would make a new and affordable health insurance pool available to nearly a million Tennesseans who are uninsured, including those who have recently been cut from the rolls of TennCare. The plan would also legally require every Tennessean to maintain health insurance coverage as a matter of personal responsibility -- just like car insurance is already required by law in Tennessee.
There are three key components of the plan. First, the uninsured would have access to a catastrophic health plan with affordable monthly premiums that could be as low as $30-50 per month. The coverage would provide for discounted physician visits and prescription drugs, and would carry a relatively high deductible – meaning the first several thousand dollars of health expenses each year would be paid out of pocket, but a major illness or accident would be covered.
Second, ALL Tennesseans would be legally required to obtain and maintain health insurance, either by purchasing a plan offered through their employer, through purchase of an individual plan, or by purchasing coverage under the pool created for the uninsured. Many Tennesseans would retain coverage under the current Medicaid system.
Finally, the State of Tennessee would create a “safety net” loan program to assist those who cannot afford the deductible payments required under the health insurance pool created for the uninsured.
TNCARES would bring a heavy portion of accountability and responsibility back into the Tennessee healthcare arena. Even in third-world countries people expect to pay SOMETHING for healthcare, even if it means bringing a live chicken to the doctor. We have attempted to create a healthcare system where healthcare is “free” and “unlimited” for some while others are paying not only their own bills but also the bills of those who get the “free” care. We cannot “fix” TennCare, and cure the crisis it has spawned, unless or until we acknowledge and accept the fundamental financial reality that quality healthcare costs money, and EVERYBODY needs to contribute to the system in some way.
The TNCARES plan would prevent families from losing everything they have due to an unexpected illness or accident arising while they are uninsured. The catastrophic coverage provisions would provide an affordable insurance safety net for them. But we would also see increased involvement by the consumer in medical decisions since individuals, rather than some nameless, faceless “third party,” would be paying for their first several thousand dollars in healthcare each year. Thus, if someone breaks an arm and the doctor offers the option of an x-ray costing a few hundred dollars or an MRI which would cost thousands, most consumers will make the reasonable and less costly choice to get what they NEED, not simply pass the huge bill to the insurer, who then passes those costs along in the form of higher premiums.
The inefficiencies, fraud, mismanagement and waste in today’s system costs us billions of dollars each year as those hidden costs are shifted from those who consume healthcare to those who pay for it. TNCARES will be a more efficient, market-driven and transparent system as consumers become more responsible and accountable for their use of health care and demand that same responsibility and accountability from those who provide it.
Leaders in other states, like Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and New York Governor George Pataki, have begun to explore options similar to the TNCARES plan for their own states. But Tennessee, with the healthcare expertise in Nashville and the opportunity to have learned from TennCare, should lead the way. Millions of uninsured Tennesseans deserve better than to be left on the outside looking in; and millions more Tennessee taxpayers deserve a better deal than funding a broken system that simply does not work and which we cannot afford to continue.
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For more details on the TENNCARES plan go to www.gillreport.com.
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TO HELP THE TROOPS, HELP THEIR FAMILIES. -
May 8, 2005 -
May 13, 2005
I recently had the opportunity to be “embedded” with our armed forces (Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines) in Baghdad, Fallujah, and several locations in Kuwait. I was able to see, first-hand, the courage and commitment that these brave young men and women exhibit on a daily basis.
They are doing extraordinary things, under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. Photos of them doing their duty don’t reveal the 90 pounds of weight they are carrying with body armor, weapons and equipmen... |
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"COMMON SENSE" TAX REFORM IN TENNESSEE. -
April 4, 2005 -
April 11, 2005
In 1776 Thomas Paine distributed a pamphlet entitled “Common Sense” laying out the arguments in favor of American Independence in clear terms. It was a turning point in developing popular support for the Revolution. Today, another form of “common sense” is circulating in Tennessee that could be a turning point in the ongoing income tax debate.
A Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) is being proposed as a way to inject a strong dose of common sense into the spending and revenue collection pro... |
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DEMOCRAT FAIRNESS. -
January 17, 2005 -
January 24, 2005
After the elections many Tennesseans were surprised when a couple of Republican State Senators announced that they planned to vote to re-elect Sen. John Wilder, a Democrat from West Tennessee, as Lt. Governor despite the fact that Republicans had gained a slim majority in the Senate for the first time since Reconstruction. Two so-called Republicans, Tim Burchett of Knoxville and Curtis Person of Memphis, claimed they owed Wilder their loyalty due to his “fairness” to Republicans over the ye... |
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TOLD YOU SO -
January 3, 2005 -
January 10, 2005
Last August I had the opportunity to appear before the self-proclaimed “independent” Tennessee Tax Structure Study Commission. The Commission had been created after then-Governor Don Sundquist and his pro-income tax allies in the legislature failed to shove an unnecessary and unwanted income tax down the throats of Tennessee taxpayers. The Commission was purportedly intended to study the state’s tax structure and develop ideas for reforming the system. The real intent was to recommend an income... |
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THE TENNCAR DEBACLE -
November 20, 2004 -
December 26, 2004
No, the headline is not a typo. Just imagine if Tennessee had instituted a plan to provide car insurance to the poor, uninsured and uninsurable instead of health care insurance. And imagine that car insurance plan, let's call it TennCar, had been based on the same flawed premises and implemented in the same way as TennCare. And finally, imagine we allowed it to become the bloated, bureaucratic, fraud-ridden nightmare that we have today with TennCare. When you look at... |
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