When John Kasich starts bragging, he doesn't tell you about his failures. We should all rejoice that many of Congressman Kasich's planned cuts were stopped by President Clinton, Democrats, and other Republicans because they were viewed as radical and hurtful to veterans, college students, working families, the elderly, and the poor.
Now, Kasich thinks that if he wins the election, he'll make big changes to hospitals and universities. If you know anything about the politics of medicine in Ohio, you'll clearly understand why Kasich's boast will be viewed as threatening by medical programs, physicians, and hospital administrators.
Cleveland.com:
...Kasich's point: He can bring Ohio colleges and universities together to share resources, entice major institutions to collaborate and force Republicans and Democrats in the General Assembly to tackle tough issues.
"Do I think I can get University Hospitals and Cleveland Clinic to work together?" he asked. "I have no doubt I can."
Kasich described his style by saying, "I'm not a technocrat. I'm a change agent. And I'm a big change agent. I think about doing things differently."
Kasich thinks he can get colleges to drop programs, and then steer money and resources to other colleges. Some of these colleges have programs because they have special funding, grants, and fellowships that allow these courses of study to exist. Yet Kasich thinks he can push college presidents, and professors to give up their resources/money/facilities to bring a particular field of study to only one or two schools within the state. That particular idea will not go over very well. If I am a contributor to Ohio State, I don't want my money to go to another college or university. Since state funding has been reduced to a pittance to state universities, as governor, Kasich would have very little authority in this area.
Secondly, Mr. "Change Agent" thinks he can get the Ohio State University Hospitals and the Cleveland Clinic "to work together." Once again, Kasich is letting his overblown ego do the talking. Kasich doesn't understand the funding of medicine, the locations of certain specialties in one location over another, and the control that physicians/hospital administrators/donors, and others have on what gets done. For example, what if Kasich, if elected, decided that Ohio State would no longer do cancer treatment and that it would be located at the Cleveland Clinic or that the Cleveland Clinic would not longer do cardiac treatment? There would be a lot of anger and frustration because of the financial and emotional investment that communities and physicians have in a particular hospital. If a program has good results, they often get special funding that enables them to use special medications, additional staff, and even better facilities. If elected, Kasich, as governor, would have no authority to venture into the medical facility/funding game.
Even though Kasich brags that "...he's been working on a plan for a couple of years and has "run a couple of simulations. So we know we can get this done...," his simulations are a figment of his imagination---- just as his stories about how "he" balanced the federal budget.
By the way, Kasich was a change agent in one way. His meeting and introductions between the Ohio pension funds and the now bankrupt Lehman Brothers caused the funds to lose over $480 million in their investments. That is change that Kasich won't brag about.
