Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Peter Cooke Slams Health Care Compact A Week After Its Chief Sponsor Suggests Same Changes

Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Peter Cooke criticized Utah’s involvement in a multi-state plan to take over the administration of Medicare but some key republicans also think that’s a bad idea.

The Interstate Health Care Compact is an agreement between at least a half dozen states looking for an alternative to federal health care reform. Member states want more authority over how to spend federal health care dollars. Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Peter Cooke argues the compact would cut the amount of money dedicated to Medicare and put Utah seniors at a serious disadvantage.

"Doctors will no longer be paid competitively for accepting Medicare enrollees, and thus, would have fewer incentives to accept seniors on Medicare," Cooke says.

But at a recent Health System Reform task force meeting, Republican Senator Stuart Adams, the chief sponsor of Utah’s compact legislation, recommended that the state should not assume the responsibility of Medicare.

“As we looked at it as a task force or a working group we felt that Medicare ought to be separated andd that perhaps we had our hands full with Medicaid," Adams says.

The task force further recommended that if the state could not remove the administration of Medicare from the compact they should withdraw from it completely.

KUER is listener-supported public radio. Support this work by making a donation today.