Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen is "apoplectic" over the millions of dollars he believes the proposed federal health care bill would cost the Volunteer State, Senator Bob Corker said Wednesday in Chattanooga.
One of the things the legislation would do, the Republican senator told Rotary Club members, is raise the base line for qualifying for health care assistance from 100 percent to 130 percent of the poverty level.
Tennessee, already facing a budget crisis, cannot afford to do that, according to Senator Corker, who formerly served as the state's chief financial officer.
Other states such as California are in even more dire financial straits, he noted.
Although he would like to see every American have access to affordable health care, he said, "After being commissioner of finance for Tennessee, I cannot vote for a bill that puts unfunded mandates (on state governments)."
The senator said he believes the federal government's willingness to impose spending requirements on state and local governments without providing the money to cover them grows out of the "selfishness" of Washington politicians.
Another factor influencing the handling of health care reform, he said candidly, is the rancor that permeates the leaders of both Republican and Democratic members of congress.
"The leadership of my side of the aisle wants to see nothing happen," he said. "The leadership on the other side wants to see anything happen."
The truth is that the kind of health care Congress is proposing to make accessible to ordinary citizens -- Medicaid especially -- is nowhere near as good as that enjoyed by senators and congressmen and their families, he said.
"Medicaid is the worst kind of health care that exists," he said flatly. "Forty percent of physicians and 50 percent of specialists won't even take (Medicaid patients)."
The discrepancy between the kind of health care proposed for them and that available to politicians is not lost on the general public, he noted.
"Everywhere I go, people tell me they want the kind of health care I have."
That's why he's decided to propose a change to the health care reform bill after the Thanksgiving holidays, Senator Corker said, when congress returns to Washington.
"I plan to offer an amendment that says every senator and congressman will be enrolled in Medicaid," he told rotary club members.