Archive for 2009
The Looniest Department in State Government
It turns out Craigan L. Gray, the MD and JD (lawyer) and newly appointed Director of Medicaid is pretty thin skinned. When Tim Rogers – head of the Association for Home and Hospice Care – asked Secretary Lanier Cansler to reconsider Gray’s cuts in a tiny Medicaid program that provides nurses to care…
Read MoreThe Looniest Department: CCME, Again and Again and Again
Right now if you’re a Medicaid patient or are a nurse or a nurse’s aide who cares for a patient you’re facing hard times – your medical care’s being cut or your hours are being cut or your pay’s being cut, by Craigan Gray Medicaid Director at DHHS. But if you’re one of the…
Read MoreThe Clinton Prescription
The Big Dog’s got the scent. Democrats should pay attention. For all his faults, Bill Clinton has one of the best noses in politics. And this week he gave Senate Democrats exactly the right strategy for passing health-care reform: It’s the economy, stupid. That is, reform will help the economy by slowing…
Read MoreComeback Cal?
I was never sure Cal Cunningham was totally committed to running for the Senate. Now I’m not sure he’s committed to sit it out. A Machiavellian part of me suspects his withdrawal could be a ploy aimed at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The DSCC has been waiting – it seems like forever…
Read MoreThe Looniest Department: Turning DHHS into an HMO
Since he’s a former health care lobbyist I guess it’s not surprising Secretary Lanier Cansler has decided to run the Department of Health and Human Services as if, well, it was an HMO or an insurance company. Of course, the thing folks hate most about insurance companies is simple: When they go to…
Read MoreMods and Rockers
Life as a moderate Democrat in North Carolina isn’t for the weak of heart. Like England in the ‘60s, it’s the Mods versus the Rockers. But these Rockers come at the Mods from both sides: the Obama disciples on the left and the Rush-Beck wrecking crew on the right. Larry Kissell voted against…
Read MoreThe Looniest Department: Putting Infants in Nursing Homes?
They’re a lot of things going on at DHHS that are just plain odd, even for a state agency. For instance, Governor Perdue put a health care lobbyist in charge of DHHS’ budget – which includes granting billions in health care contracts. Then the lobbyist – Secretary Lanier Cansler – put a gynecologist in…
Read MoreHow to Survive in 2010
My old friend and North Carolina native Harrison Hickman, a Washington pollster, has written “a 2010 survival guide for Democrats” He writes that, “Survival is possible even in the worst of climates, as many Democrats in 1984 and 1994, and many Republicans in 1986 and 2008 have shown.” Here’s his first prescription: …
Read MoreThe Looniest Department in State Government
Over the summer I did TV ads and Internet videos for the Association for Hospice and Home Care and, in the process, got a close up look at the inner-workings of the Department of Health and Human Services – which has to be the looniest department in state government. I guess the best example…
Read MoreGetting it Backwards
Over at the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Lanier Cansler has been lamenting that he’s got to cut $4 billion or $1 billion (the number seems to change from day to day) from his department’s budget. When you think about it it’s an odd thing – but the liberals in the Perdue…
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