ROGUE TENNESSEE JUDGE REINED IN

The Tenncare saga is coming to an end

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that state officials do not need a judge's approval to drop 323,000 adults from Tennessee's expanded Medicaid program. A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a ruling issued from Cincinnati that a federal judge overstepped his authority in January when he blocked the state from making the cuts.

Gov. Phil Bredesen wanted to cut the rolls to save money on the $8 billion TennCare program, and he got approval last month from the federal government, which pays two-thirds of the bill. TennCare recipients went to court to protect their benefits, and U.S. District Judge William J. Haynes blocked the cutbacks pending a hearing.

The appeals court said Haynes improperly restricted "the state's substantive policy choices in altering the TennCare program."

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Medicare mess: "As President Bush and Congress try to fix Social Security, the other huge federal program for seniors faces insolvency even sooner. But when it comes to Medicare, the politicians have no prescription. The national health program for Americans 65 and older faces all the demographic difficulties that have made Social Security the president's No. 1 domestic priority: aging baby boomers, fewer workers paying taxes in the future, and a system that will soon be unable to deliver on its promises. Social Security's fiscal problems escalate in about 2018, when it is projected to begin paying out more in benefits than it receives in taxes; Medicare reached that milestone last year."

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation.

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