Rep. Earl Pomeroy Won’t Be Voting For Government Health Care
For what it’s worth, North Dakota’s one vote in the House won’t be for government health care.
BISMARCK (AP) — North Dakota Rep. Earl Pomeroy says he won’t support a House bill to overhaul the nation’s health care system because it would cut payments to the state’s medical providers.
The bill includes a so-called “public plan” for medical coverage. It would pay hospitals for treatments at rates set by Medicare. Doctors would get Medicare rates plus 5 percent.
Pomeroy said Medicare payments to North Dakota doctors and hospitals already are too meager.
He says Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota estimates a third of its business would go to the government-run system. That would cut payments to medical providers by $138 million annually.
I’m not sure that I buy Earl’s reasoning about not wanting to eat into Medicare or Blue Cross/Blue Shield’s near monopoly on health insurance in North Dakota, but I’ll take his “no” vote anyway. Better a “no” vote for the wrong reasons than a “yes” vote for any reason.
The reader who emailed this story to me said that the “tea parties must be scaring him.” I can’t speak to that, but there’s certainly something telling Earl that now isn’t the time to indulge his inner liberal.
