June 22, 2005

The Prop

"I’m not interested in being a prop for some big media event," Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen said yesterday - at a meeting with a group of protesters who had occupied his office to protest the meat-axe the governor is taking to the state's healthcare program for the sick, poor, disabled and elderly. Bredesen, who promised to reform TennCare but has no real reform-plan, met with the protestors in front of numerous television cameras.

According to The Tennessean:

Gov. Phil Bredesen met with about a dozen TennCare enrollees and their advocates yesterday afternoon, telling them he had recently decided to preserve at-home nursing care for some enrollees. But, he added, he had no choice but to move forward with the remaining plans to cut health-care coverage for as many as 323,000 people to rein in costs in the public health insurance program.

Afterward, Bredesen told reporters that it was "refreshing to talk to real TennCare enrollees," although "I don't think there's anything I could have done or said that would satisfy them."