Tarrant: Health care No. 1 issue; states can't solve it
MONTPELIER, Vt. --U.S. Senate candidate Richard Tarrant said he soon would unveil a proposal for reforming health care that would scrap the federal-state Medicaid programs in favor of an expanded Medicare.
"Health care I believe is the No. 1 issue right now," the Republican founder of the medical software firm IDX Corp., said Tuesday evening at an Elks Club dinner hosted by his campaign. "You can't fix it on a state basis." He said it was the 35th spaghetti dinner of his campaign.
Tarrant said there are 56 separate Medicaid systems -- that's the federal-state program that offers health coverage to low-income people -- operating redundant bureaucracies. He said it would be much better to cover those who can't afford insurance through an expanded federal Medicare program, which currently covers the elderly.
Numerous states have tried to reform their Medicaid systems to cover more of the uninsured, which has been great for his company's business, Tarrant said. He listed several states where IDX has repeatedly implemented new systems. "Every two years we go in and change the computers. ... We're spinning our wheels."
A more efficient, Medicare-administered public health care system would alleviate the cost-shift that occurs when doctors and hospitals, believing they are underpaid by Medicaid, raise the rates charged private insurance programs. With less of a cost-shift, "we could leave free enterprise to take care of the rest," he said.
He added that the most important issue in health care isn't insurance, but underlying cost drivers, the main one being chronic disease. A better run public health care system would reduce costs by getting those needing it care earlier. He offered the example of a diabetic needing a leg amputation who might not have been in such straits if he or she had received treatment earlier.
At an event attended by about 65 people -- some staunch Republicans but others who said they were just curious about Tarrant -- the candidate spoke in response to questions on a wide range of issues.
He began by saying he is a strong supporter of free trade. "Free trade means peace," he said, arguing that countries that have joined the world economic community rarely go to war against one another. He said he would liberalize relations with Cuba, citing the same principle.
"The more we trade with everybody, the less we fight with them," Tarrant said. "We'll never have a war with China. ... China can't afford to bomb
But after questions from the audience about other countries' lax environmental laws and labor protections, Tarrant said he would amend his presentation to talk about "fair trade," rather than "free trade."
He said pursuing a fair-trade agenda would mean trying to limit the subsidies countries give agriculture and other industries. But asked about the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact and a successor program, he called those subsidy systems "crucial for Vermont dairy farmers," and said he would have to think about the subsidy question some more.
Tarrant promised that if he is sent to Washington, he would "push back on Republicans when they need to be pushed back on." He said those in control of Congress had become "borrow-and-spend Republicans," something that violated the principle of fiscal prudence that first attracted the former "JFK Democrat" to the Republican party.
On other issues currently big in Washington, Tarrant said he would "probably" support the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, but acknowledged he had not studied the question in depth. In a brief interview after his talk, he said he did not believe the Bush administration had violated the law when it allowed warrantless monitoring of some phone and e-mail traffic.
Tarrant is expected to face Greg Parke of Rutland in a Republican primary in September, with the winner of that contest squaring off against independent U.S. Rep. Bernard Sanders in November for a seat opened by the retirement of Sen. James Jeffords, I-Vt.
