Well, except the buy above... he can't aspire to be a Governor: he is a Governor: Deval Patrick of Massachsets.



But this guy, Charles D. (Charlie) Baker, who recently resigned as CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care can.  Tossing his hat (I don't know the brand, or model) into the ring, he said "I'm very well suited for this task. And I would regret it -- for quite a while -- if under such difficult circumstances I chose to sit idly by and not participate."  Welcome, Charlie.  I'm sure we're all very happy to have you avoid any regrets about this.

Charlie clearly has the credentials for the job:

    Baker serves on the boards of The Kenneth Schwartz Center, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the New England Council, and America's Health Insurance Plans.  He chairs the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans.  He is also on the Board of the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, and the IXIS Advisors and Loomis Sayles Mutual Funds Board.  He is an elected member of the Board of Selectmen in Swampscott, MA.

    Baker received a Master's Degree in Management, concentrating in Public Administration and Finance, from Northwestern's Kellogg School and a BA in English from Harvard College.

These are sooooo much more impressive than the credentials of the current Governor, Deval Patrick-what kind of name is Deval anyhow?

    Deval Patrick was born in Chicago, Illinois on July 31, 1956. His father, a musician, left the family while Patrick was young. Patrick was raised by his mother near the Robert Taylor Homes on Chicago's South Side. While in the eighth grade, Patrick was recruited into a program called A Better Chance, which provided scholarships to inner city students. After attending an elite private school, Milton Academy outside of Boston, Massachusetts, Patrick was accepted to Harvard University, where he earned his A.B. degree in English and American literature in 1978.

    * * *

    Patrick serves on the board of directors of Reebok International, Inc, Coca-Cola Enterprises, and A Better Chance, Inc. He is a trustee of the Ford Foundation, and sits on the board of overseers of Harvard University and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Patrick is also the recipient of numerous awards and seven honorary degrees.

It is certain that Charlie Baker left his post at Harvard Pilgrim to run for Governor for purely altruistic reasons.  After all, he's foregoing compensation of $1.7 million in attempt to make a measly $140,535.00  Actually, Patrick must have spent too much time in the bathroom one day: his compensation was only $140,534.94.

Certainly none of this has anything to do with the current crisis in health care, or with Patrick's efforts to reign in excessive premium costs:

    Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) on Monday [January 5,2009?]"accelerated his administration's efforts to control spiraling statewide health care costs," and said that officials are considering regulations to block excessive insurance premiums, the Boston Globe reports. A recent investigation by the Globe's Spotlight Team found that an agreement between the former CEOs of Partners HealthCare and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts helped drive up health costs in the state.

    Following the investigation, Patrick on Monday convened a panel of senior administration officials to coordinate new and existing state cost containment efforts. He said that cost containment efforts should be developed by this summer and that he expects to file new legislation.

    Patrick said, "The increases at this rate over time (are) just not sustainable, not for families, not to business, not for government," adding, "We have to get at cost containment because these kinds of premium increases and the unevenness in the way various providers are compensated for similar services have to be addressed in order to assure the long-term viability of this grand experiment" of the state's health insurance law. State Inspector General Gregory Sullivan said he wants providers and insurers to hold off signing new contracts until the Patrick administration has implemented new, as-yet-undetermined policies to limit premiums.

The fact that the Governor of the State which has made valiant efforts to insure all its residents is being challenged by one of the major players in the Health Insurance Industry, and this at a time when the Obama administration is pushing as hard as it can for health insurance reform including a public option must certainly be a coincidence-as much a coincidence as the correlation between the moon's orbit and the rhythm of the tides.

Note to self: Make sure to inform folks that Harvard Pilgrim is one of the best, even if the general lot is bad.

Another note to self: Which altruistic member of Big Health Care will aspire to the Presidency and its princely remuneration in 2012?   



Maybe this guy???