An Interesting Pair of Articles From The Tennessean

Former Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist has been appointed to lead a national advisory commission on improving Medicaid by Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt. Sundquist, though not guilty of mercilessly cutting hundreds of thousands of people from the TennCare program (Tennessee's expanded version of Medicaid), he did leave the healthcare system he inherited millions of dollars in debt. Now his successor, Governor Bredesen, in a less-than-creative attempt to clean up Sundquist's mess, will soon be guilty of mercilessly cutting thousands of people from TennCare.

In other news, a federal judge says that Governor Sundquist was the " 'impetus' for the federal investigation into state contracts that has led to the indictments of two of his friends."

Given the rampant accusations of corruption, the indictments of those close to Sundquist, and the former governor's mishandling of TennCare, I don't know that he is the best choice to head a team to look at reforming Medicaid nationwide.