Health Care Campaign 2008: New Addition Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
Friday Sep 05, 2008Health Care Campaign 2008: New Addition Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in Politics and Legislation
Even
if you aren’t following the presidential election, you probably heard
about Republican nominee Senator John McCain’s pick for vice
president: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
Governor Palin has been touted by Republicans as a fresh face for Washington, a reformer, and a true conservative — not to mention that she’s the first female on the Republican presidential ticket and she would be the first female vice president in American history.
So where does Governor Palin stand when it comes to health care and health insurance reform?
Unfortunately, she doesn’t have much of a health care record.
But from what we’ve researched, Governor Palin does have a traditional stance toward health care reform as many of her Republican colleagues.
For one, Palin seems to strongly support increased competition to reduce health care costs.
In Alaska, new medical facilities can only be opened if the state decides that the facility is actually needed. Any new facility needs to obtain a “certificate-of-need.” This year, Governor Palin fought to get rid of this law so new facilities could freely open and increase competition in the market.
In an Anchorage Daily News op-ed, Governor Palin quoted herself, “Under our present Certificate of Need process, costs and needs don't drive health care choices, bureaucracy does. Our system is broken and expensive.”
Even though her efforts eventually failed, reported the Washington Post in a health care piece on Governor Palin, it suggests the Republican vice-presidential nominee favors market health care solutions.
Governor Palin also sides with the majority of Republicans on expanding the State’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Legislation was introduced in Alaska this year to expand the subsidized family health insurance plan, but Palin opposed it.
Now that Governor Palin has been introduced on the national stage, we’d expect to hear about her proposals and thoughts on health care reform sooner than later.
