|
Governor Popular Despite Media Coverage
Sunday wasn’t a great day for Gov. Jon Huntsman in the Salt
Lake Tribune. In a front-page story
reporter Rebecca Walsh dredged up a lot of negative quotes
from people mad at the Huntsman administration for one reason or
another. Then community gadfly Claire Geddes unloaded on
the governor in an op-ed
piece on the front page of the Opinion section. No mention was
made of the fact that Huntsman enjoys an 80 percent approval rating
by the people who count – the voters – as reported
previously by the Deseret Morning News. Huntsman is smart
enough to know that negative press coverage has little impact on
his support among citizens, and might even boost his standing.
National Politics
Conservatives Getting Restless
More and more conservatives are expressing alarm about burgeoning
federal deficits and the coming crises over Social Security, Medicare
and Medicaid funding. Some are saying the nation needs a Ross
Perot-type presidential candidate to call attention to the looming
crisis. David Brooks had an excellent column
on the topic in the Saturday New York Times.
The conservative Federalist Patriot recently criticized
the U.S. Senate for increasing tax cuts and refusing to cut Medicaid:
“With Medicaid increases and tax decreases, the Senate has once
again shown its contempt for economic common sense: without complementary
or greater decreases in federal spending, tax cuts (which we support)
will ultimately prove disastrous for the nation's economy, tightening
the money supply, raising inflation and crippling growth. As the
House and Senate prepare to return to reconcile their FY2006 packages,
we remind them -- balancing the budget does matter!”
Another conservative, Lyn Nofziger, recently said: "The
time has come for those we Republicans have elected to high office
either to fish or to cut bait, either to decide they are conservatives
or Democrat-like moderates, either to cut the size and expense of
government or enlarge them, either to butt out of our lives or muscle
government's way farther in, in short either to act like Republicans
or admit that all this time they've been lying to us. The Republican
Party, once the party of small government, states rights, individual
responsibility and, if you will, America first, is slowly coming
to love Big Brother and big government and wanting to be loved internationally
at the expense of American sovereignty. Anyone who thinks this is
still the party of Ronald Reagan should think again."
Health Care Task Force Has Big Job
One of the hottest on-going political discussions in Utah will be
over the structure and tax status of Intermountain Health Care.
In the last session lawmakers debated breaking up IHC and imposing
a hefty tax on the non-profit, tax-exempt institution. Cooler heads
prevailed, and now IHC is the subject of a two-year study mandated
by SB61 sponsored by Sen. Mike Waddoups.
The task force will consist of 15 members: 6 Senate members and
9 House members. It will be very busy reviewing and making recommendations
on the following issues:
- market penetration, geographic distribution, and contracting
arrangements of integrated health care systems in the health insurance
and health care markets in the state
- the impact of divestiture of integrated health care systems
in the health care market in the state
- state policies that promote fair and appropriate competition
in the health care market, including the adequacy and application
of antitrust provisions to health care organizations
- business and financial practices of health care organizations
and how they may impede or enhance a fair and competitive health
care market place and impact consumers
- the tax exempt status of nonprofit health care organizations
- the statutory definition of charitable care
- the contracting practices of health care organizations that
promote cost-effective health care
- the need for consumer protections from health care provider
conflicts of interest
- the impact of proliferation of medical technology and facilities
- patient choice of, and access to, health care providers including
the impact of any willing provider laws as applied to health maintenance
organizations and preferred provider organizations and the use
of medical non-compete provisions
- the effect of these issues on the state's Medicaid program,
other government delivered health care services, patients and
health care delivery systems of these government programs
The Task Force is to make an initial report to the Business and
Labor Interim Committee and Revenue and Taxation Interim Committee
by Nov. 30, 2005, and a final report, including any proposed legislation,
to the same committees before Nov. 30, 2006.
Political Trivia
Important March Political Dates
(Source: National Journal Calendar)
March 20: Sixty senators attend a Washington sneak preview
of Advise and Consent, a film based on Allen Drury’s best-selling
novel involving a bitter Senate confirmation battle. A scene in
which Washington state Democrat Henry “Scoop” Jackson appears as
an extra and declines a drink from a passing waiter draws hearty
laughs from colleagues (1962).
March 22: Congress outlaws the practice of polygamy (1882).
March 26: The U.S. Supreme Court rules in the landmark Baker
v. Carr case, beginning the modern era of redistricting (1962).
March 29: President Harry S. Truman announces he will not
seek reelection as President (1952).
March 30: Secretary of State William Seward reaches agreement
with Russia to purchase the territory of Alaska for $7.2 million,
a deal roundly ridiculed at the time as “Seward’s Folly” (1981).
March 30: President Ronald Reagan is shot and seriously
wounded by John Hinckley, Jr. (1981).
March 31: President Lyndon B. Johnson announces he will
not seek reelection as President (1968).
|
Utah
Policy Daily is a service