Joe Biden is the Vice President of the United State. How would it be if we also made him, say, Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission? Andrew Ginther is President of the Columbus City Council. What say we make him Chief of Police while he's at it?
Ridiculous? Consider Mary Taylor, Ohio's Lieutenant Governor. Simultaneously, she also serves as the Director of the Ohio Department of Insurance. It's like two, two, two jobs in one!
Insurance Director is a political appointment. Taylor is an accountant by trade, and not particularly insurance savvy. It shows. In the Kay-suck administration, her main role as Director seems to be head cheerleader for the repeal of healthcare reform. For a year, she's travelled the state bad-mouthing what she always refers to as "Obamacare", saying she'll do all she can to get rid of "this catastrophic law" which, she always claims (wrongly) "will kill jobs, reduce choices, and increase costs."
She wrote an op-ed piece appearing in many newspapers in which she criticized the Affordable Care Act for requiring people to purchase coverage for things they may not want or need, "like maternity and pediatric coverage for those with no children."
Well, duh, Mary! By its very nature and design, that's the way all health insurance works. We're all covered for lots of stuff we may never use. Health insurance is not some sort of a la carte menu. What a stupid thing for the Insurance Director to say. My health plan covers me for hospitalization. The fact that I have not been hospitalized recently does not make me angry.
More importantly, the ACA requires that states pass a law by June 30, 2012 establishing health insurance exchanges -- so-called "marketplaces" for small business and the uninsured. The reason for the June deadline is that the ACA requires the exchanges be up and running by 2014, and to do that, things must be put in motion now.
Mary is in charge of all this and has, of course, done absolutely nothing, and intentionally so. She won't even discuss it with anyone. State Rep. John P. Carney has asked Gov. Kasich to testify before the House and tell us about the progress he's making toward setting up the exchanges. Kasich has tossed the hot potato back to do-nothing Taylor, saying it's her responsibility. (Ultimately it's yours, John-Boy.)
Either we get ourselves a real Insurance Director, or someone needs to put a candle under Mary Taylor's ass!
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