Strickland and Health Care

Strickland is as politically astute as a rock.

From the Dispatch:

Strickland, who has said his only regret about leaving Congress when he became governor in 2006 is that he couldn't vote for the bill, supports it.

For some reason, Ted Strickland thinks supporting this bill is a political winner. If he didn't, he could simply keep his mouth shut.

I don't need to go into all the reasons why taking ownership of HCR in Ohio is a stupid idea. Just take a look at the polls. Let me know when you find one that says more Ohioans support it than don't.

But for the hell of it, let's take a look at where they stand by checking out the Quinnipiac Poll from last month. The poll only tested Registered, rather than Likely voters, a sample that inherently benefits Democrats and therefore is worse predictor. And to the delight of Democrats everywhere, it even showed Ted Strickland up on John Kasich by single digits.

In this poll, this question was asked: "From what you've heard or read, do you mostly approve or mostly disapprove of the proposed changes to the health care system under consideration in Congress?"

It's hard to get more straightforward than that.

But even in this poll that skews liberal, approve to disapprove ended up being 33-56 overall, and 30-61 among Independents.

Now since that poll was taken, Strickland has decided to go on record as wishing to have had the opportunity to support the bill.

Once both John Kasich and Ted Strickland make sure each and every Ohioan knows that, you can sure as hell bet those who disapprove of HCR will remember where Strickland stands when they pull the lever come November.

Additionally, Strickland recently went on MSNBC to talk about health care reform. He stated:

The good news for the states is between 2014 and 2017 there's no additional cost. And we estimate that in going forward after 2017 it is going to cost Ohio about an additional $200 million per year, but we think that's a good tradeoff.

Just another $200 million? And that's your conservative guess seven years out?

It amazes me that Governor Strickland is willing to throw cash around like this when everyone has finally accepted we're going to be in an $8 billion hole for the next biennial budget.

He also said:

...well, we lost some time perhaps. but i believe the health care debate is part of jobs debate. If we relieve the burden on small businesses, small businesses will have more resources to invest and grow and to create jobs. so i don't think it's possible really to separate the health care issues facing Ohio from the burdens that small business are facing in Ohio.

It will help small businesses, eh? The Wall Street Journal disagrees in an analysis that included Ohio:

...a 40-year-old husband and wife with two kids would see their premiums jump by 122%—to $737 from $332—while a small business with eight employees in Franklin County would see premiums climb by 86%. It's true that the family or the individual might qualify for subsidies if their incomes are low enough, but the business wouldn't qualify under the Senate Finance bill...

Governor, how exactly does raising premiums on small businesses help solve Ohio's job crisis?

Like our side really needed more ammo for comparative commercials next fall.