Government Lacks “Capacity” to Manage Kilroy’s Government-Run Healthcare Plan

FYI, a version of the release below went out to the following districts: Michael Arcuri (NY-24); Sanford Bishop (GA-02); Tim Bishop (NY-01); Marion Berry (AR-04); Leonard Boswell (IA-03); Bruce Braley (IA-01); Dennis Cardoza (CA-18); Chris Carney (PA-10); Gerry Connolly (VA-11); Jim Costa (CA-20); Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-03); Joe Donnelly (IN-02); Steve Driehaus (OH-01); Brad Ellsworth (IN-08); Gabby Giffords (AZ-08); Alan Grayson (FL-08); John Hall (NY-19); Debbie Halvorson (IL-11); Martin Heinrich (NM-01); Baron Hill (IN-09); Jim Himes (CT-04); Steve Kagen (WI-08); Paul Kanjorski (PA-11); Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15); Ron Kind (WI-03); Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-01); Dan Maffei (NY-25); Jerry McNerney (CA-11); Harry Mitchell (AZ-05);Alan Mollohan (WV-01); Dennis Moore (KS-03); David Obey (WI-07); Bill Owens (NY-23); Ed Perlmutter (CO-07); Tom Perriello (VA-05); Gary Peters (MI-09); Earl Pomeroy (ND-AL); Nick Rahall (WV-03); Ciro Rodriguez (TX-23); Loretta Sanchez (CA-47); Mark Schauer (MI-07); Kurt Schrader (OR-05); Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01); Vic Snyder (AR-02); Zack Space (OH-18); John Spratt (SC-05); Bart Stupak (MI-01); Dina Titus (NV-03); Tim Walz (MN-01); David Wu (OR-01); and John Yarmuth (KY-03).

Government Lacks “Capacity” to Manage Kilroy’s Government-Run Healthcare Plan
Democrats’ Healthcare Plan Destined for Failure as Dems Struggle to Find New Options in the Senate

Washington- As Democrats struggle to sell their so-called “public option,” it’s not yet clear that the government even has the capacity to handle this new bureaucratic monstrosity. Mary Jo Kilroy helped Nancy Pelosi muscle through this government-run health plan, but a top expert has raised concerns that the proposal is simply too big and burdensome to be administered by an already-bloated federal government. The “public option” would be modeled after The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), which provides insurance coverage to more than eight million federal workers, including members of Congress and their dependents.

Similar to the public option plan that Kilroy supports, the Democrats’ new proposal would be regulated by legislation and overseen by a federal agency, the same way the federal employees’ coverage plan serves federal workers.

However, it seems that the government may lack the capacity to manage Kilroy’s government-run healthcare plan:

“Former OPM Director Linda Springer told FederalNewsRadio it will literally take an act of Congress to pull that off. ‘I flat out think that OPM doesn’t have the capacity to do this type of role,’ said Springer. ‘Furthermore, I don’t believe that OPM has the statutory authority to do it as well. But on both those counts, I don’t think it would be a good call….”’

“Even with a mission change, there’s the question of the ability of the agency to get the work done.

“‘For anyone to think that OPM has the capacity, the staffing, or the mission to go beyond that, really, I think, shows a misunderstanding of the agency.’”  (Linda Springer, “OPM not up to task of running public option health program,” Federal News Radio 1500 AM, 12/08/2009)

“As Democrats are scurrying to come up with new way to sell their government healthcare takeover, reports are confirming what we’ve known all along: Washington’s endless bureaucracy is incapable of managing a government-run healthcare program,” said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain. “Kilroy continues to bow to her party leaders as they swindle their budget-busting healthcare takeover with the latest piece of Nancy Pelosi’s reckless agenda and now it turns out that she is backing a proposal that the government cannot even deliver.”

###