Lies, Damn Lies and Jeff Kruse.

Carla Axtman

Recently, State Senator Jeff Kruse (R-Roseburg) released an e-newsletter. Presumably such newsletters are meant to inform his constituents about policy and legislation from Salem.

In Kruse's case however, this particular document is so rife with BS that a good pair of hip-waders are required just to slog through it.

At the opening, Kruse admits his previous newsletter prompted letters from readers who expressed some disagreement with his positions. Yet, Kruse seems unfazed by their criticism, choosing instead to verbally pat them on their little heads and send them on their way:

Over the last few weeks I have received some very interesting responses to my previous newsletter. It seems there are a fair number of people who have a greater faith in government than I do. It may be the fact I have been on the inside and it has made me more skeptical, but I believe it is a healthy skepticism. Not only does government usually cost more and operate less efficiently, but we should always keep in mind the more government is involved the less freedom we have.

Interestingly, Kruse is a cog in the government machine that's at least in part the source of his expressed skepticism. That's quite a conundrum: a guy who hates government and all that it stands for swimming neck-deep in it.

But I digress.

Kruse continues:

The parallels between health care reform in Oregon and on the national level are striking in two different ways. Both efforts want to create a program with more government control over traditionally private sector activities. While I find this very troubling, this may not be the most alarming aspect. What I find even more troubling is the seeming willingness in both cases for the Legislative Branch of government to cede authority granted them by the Constitution to the Executive Branch. One should keep in mind that nowhere in either the US or the Oregon Constitution is the authority to regulate health care granted to either Congress or the Oregon Legislature; however these bodies have been invested with the authority to set laws and review regulations. With the creation of the Oregon Health Authority and whatever President Obama chooses to call his organization we see a clear transfer of legislative responsibility to the Executive Branch, and this will come with very little oversight.

One wonders when Kruse will demand that Medicare and Social Security be tossed into the ash heap. Perhaps in his next newsletter? Of course the Constitutionality for Medicare (and a public health care option) would come from the financing mechanisms under the taxing and spending powers, together with the commerce clause. Kruse may disagree that these Constitutional provisions cover health care--but there's a good argument to be made. It's irresponsible stupidity to simply declare otherwise and babble forward.

More from Kruse:

The public sentiment for President Obama’s “public option” has been very negative. You need to know House Bill 2009 from this last Legislative Session (Oregon’s main health care reform bill) had a public option imbedded in it. It is not easily visible, as it was left to the Oregon Health Authority to implement. In fact most of the provisions relative to reform were taken from the jurisdiction of the Legislature and given to the Health Authority. The last time I checked it was the legislature who was elected by the people to make such decisions and we are now deferring to a board appointed by the Governor without any direct accountability to the people.

Hmmmm....the sentiment for the public option is "negative"? Maybe in the world of BS that Kruse likes to inhabit, but in the real world where the rest of us live--we want the public option and support it.

On the matter of HB 2009, Kruse is either lying about the bill or too incompetent to read and understand it.

Kruse claims: "It is not easily visible, as it was left to the Oregon Health Authority to implement."

However Section 9 of HB 2009 says:

The duties of the Health Policy Board are:

(L) Develop and submit a plan to the Legislative Assembly by December 31, 2010, with
recommendations for the development of a publicly owned health benefit plan that operates in the exchange under the same rules and regulations as all health insurance plans offered through the exchange, including fully allocated fixed and variable operating and capital costs.

So in fact, that the Board is developing and submitting a "public plan" to the legislature, no where is there an authorization for the Authority to implement it. Sources tell me that the intent of this clause is also clearly evident in the hearings on this bill. Kruse should know this.

And what if the Legislature decides not to take action on an authority-submitted public option plan?

Section 17 establishes an exchange. In this section "the plan" refers to the exchange. In part it reads:

(2) The Oregon Health Authority shall submit the plan developed under this section to
the Oregon Health Policy Board for approval.
(3) No later than October 1, 2010, the board shall submit a request to Legislative Counsel pursuant to section 9 (2)(b) of this 2009 Act for a measure to implement the plan.

So the Board must submit a request to Legislative Council in order to implement the plan so that the exchange can "implement" the plan. If the plan, submitted by the Board to the LC to "implement" the exchange isn't approved, the exchange does not function. If the exchange does not function, the "public option plan" has no place to operate.

Again, Kruse should be well aware of this. He's either lying or too incompetent to understand the bill he's talking about in his newsletter.

Is our health care system broken? The answer is yes, but we should not be so quick to look to government as the solution. One should keep in mind that to a large degree the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in the mid 60’s has led us to our current crisis. While both programs were clearly well intentioned, they have had a negative dynamic impact on the system. For the most part this is because the government is now setting the price of health care services but reimbursing most states only a fraction of the prices they have set. I am not sure how one can justify attempting to solve a problem by turning more control of the situation over to those who created the problem in the first place.

Kruse really believes that the out-of-control pricing, denial of care and inability for so many people to get insurance stems from low medicare reimbursement rates? Certainly the aging population puts a strain on the Medicare system, but that's not the reason for costs spiraling out of control. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, there are four main reasons for rising costs (citations for their reasoning are at the link):

# Prescription drugs and technology – Spending on prescription drugs and new medical technologies has been cited as the primary contributor to the increase in overall health spending. Some analysts state that the availability of more expensive, state-of-the-art drugs and technological services fuels health care spending not only because the development costs of these products must be recouped by industry but also because they generate consumer demand for more intense, costly services even if they are not necessarily cost-effective.

# Administrative costs – It is estimated that at least 7% of health care expenditures are for administrative costs (e.g. marketing, billing) and this portion is much lower in the Medicare program (<2%), which is operated by the federalgovernment. Some argue that the mixed public-private system creates overhead costs and large profits that are fueling health care spending.

Gasp! The GOVERNMENT system has lower administrative costs! I wonder if that little nugget will appear in Kruse's next tome. Unlikely, would be my guess.

The newsletter goes on to claim that Texas has a 9 billion dollar budget surplus (they don't) and that the public option is a violation of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Amendments to the US Constitution because the government will be REQUIRED to collect information. Uh...Jeff...it's called the "public OPTION", dude. OPTION meaning that it's one of several other choices. You don't like it? Don't choose it.

And then of course, Kruse wraps it all up neatly in a "socialism" bow and calls it a day.

C'mon Roseburg...you can do better than this. You DESERVE better than this.

By Carla Axtman Oct. 09, 2009