Tom Corbett: Conspiracy Theorist

Governor Tom Corbett traveled to Washington yesterday to participate, along with Governors Paul LePage of Maine and Scott Walker of Wisconsin, in a Small Business Summit sponsored by the U. S. Chamber of Commerce. Not surprisingly, the three Republican governors expressed a negative view of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The ACA requires firms with 50 or more employees to provide health care coverage for their workers or pay a fine. Gov. LePage stated that he is actively encouraging Maine businesses to break the law in the hope that the ACA will fail. “I tell Maine businesses to pay the penalty,” he said. “It would be cheaper by just writing a check for the penalty and then let Obamacare fall on its own weight.” Gov. Corbett was more circumspect. He said he didn't have to encourage Pennsylvania businessmen to defy the law, as they had already arrived at that decision on their own.

Gov. Tom Corbett

The Governor went on to suggest that the ACA was designed to fail, the motive being to pave the way for a single payer health care system. “I see the whole thing collapsing and, potentially, in the long run that may have been the plan,” he opined. “I'm a prosecutor. I believe in conspiracies.”

A lot of us probably wish the Governor's speculation were correct. However, I've completed five weeks of an eight-week course, “Health Policy and the Affordable Care Act,” taught by Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, one of the architects of the ACA, now teaching at the University of Pennsylvania. If Dr. Emanuel is typical of the policy makers who wrote the bill—and I believe he is—they were a lot more interested in saving money than saving lives. Of course, they expect it to do both, but he emphasizes the fact that only two of the ten titles in the act deal with expanding access to health care. The majority of the bill is about improving efficiency and lowering cost. It is clear from his lectures that he expects the ACA to be successful, and that he has no interest whatsoever in moving the country to a single payer health care system.

In one respect, I agree with Gov. Corbett. I believe in some conspiracies, too. For example, I believe there was a conspiracy to delay the Jerry Sandusky indictment until after the 2010 gubernatorial election.

You may also be interested in reading:

Medicaid Expansion Update

Tom Corbett to PA's Working Poor: “Drop Dead!” Part 3. What Medicaid Expansion Would Mean to Pennsylvania.

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