Election 2010

A Western Candidate for Governor Says States Can Do Health Reform “Our Own Way”

By Jill Kuraitis, 4-07-10

	Keith Allred

With 18 states now part of a federal health care lawsuit, Idaho Democratic candidate for governor Keith Allred says the state should instead use a section of the new federal law to opt out of the requirements of the Health Care Reform Act.

A federal lawsuit which was filed March 23 by Florida’s Attorney General cites the states’ rights language in the 10th amendment to the Constitution. Indiana, North Dakota, Mississippi, Nevada and Arizona just joined the suit, following Alabama, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington. Virginia is suing separately under different criteria.

“We could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a lawsuit that has a very low chance of success,” said Allred. “Governor Otter’s focus on lawsuits overlooks an important provision in the federal legislation. States can get a waiver from the federal requirements if they establish alternative programs that control costs and increase access better than the federal legislation itself. I’m here today to tell that when I’m elected governor, I’ll work to do just that,” Allred said.

Written by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, the plan endorsed by Allred highlights Section 1332 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - the “Waiver for State Innovation” – which allows states to waive out of some of the requirements of federal health reform if they meet certain standards, but awards federal money to the state if it can prove that the state plan provides insurance coverage that is at least as comprehensive as provided under federal law, and other criteria.*

Allred, who has a Ph.D. in organizational behavior and has taught leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, headed a nonpartisan citizens’ group called The Common Interest until he became the Democrats’ surprise candidate for governor of one of the reddest states in the union.  At a press conference Wednesday, he spoke about “how a state could do health reform its own way” and why he prefers the plan to the new federal law.

Saying that cost controls should be the focus on the plan, Allred proposes a state-sponsored “public option” that would provide competition to private insurance companies an incentive.

Health insurance exchanges, a concept used in Massachusetts and Utah, are the basic structure, Allred said. (An exchange is a central “marketplace” where people can choose from which entity to buy health insurance. Competition provides the incentive for those companies to cut costs to offer better rates and plans. But there are several kinds of exchanges, and their structure can vary.)

“Having the flexibility to craft our own insurance exchange turns out to be a big deal,” said Allred. He said he’d consulted with staff in Wyden’s office and the agencies in Utah and Massachusetts that handle those states’ plans.

Allred said every Idahoan would be required to have health insurance, either through an employer or purchased in some way through the plan he endorses. Asked by New West if that is imposing a state mandate instead of a federal one on citizens, he didn’t have a direct answer, but did confirm that Idahoans would not have the choice between the federal plan and the plan he proposes for Idaho.

“I believe that Idaho can do better than the federal government. I know that we can solve the problem better than lawyers and federal judges.”

*The plan would also have to provide coverage that is as affordable as it would otherwise be under federal law; that the plan covers as many people as the federal plan would, and the state plan would not increase the federal deficit.

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