Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell was one of the first AG's to challenge the individual mandate included in the federal Affordable Health Care Act, but he now says it's because private insurance companies would be in control. Louisiana was one of the first states in the country to sue the federal government over "Obamacare," but as the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments last week over the constitutionality of the individual mandate included in the federal Affordable Health Care Act, state Attorney General Buddy Caldwell told a ThinkProgress reporter that his opposition stems from private insurance companies adding millions of new customers to their bankrolls.
Caldwell, who switched from Democrat to Republican in February 2011 before running unopposed for reelection, said outside the U.S. Supreme Court that "if you have a hurricane come up the east coast, the first one that's going to leave you when they gotta pay too many claims is an insurance company."
"The worst thing you can do is give it to an insurance company. Insurance companies are the absolute worst people to handle this kind of business," Caldwell said in an interview with Think Progress. "I trust the government more than insurance companies. If the government wants to put forth a policy where they will pay for everything and you won't have to go through an insurance policy, that'd be a whole lot better." Say what?
When Caldwell announced the party switch last year, he told The Times-Picayune at the time that he is more aligned with Republican philosophies - "citing the federal health overhaul bill as an example." The Louisiana AG has long opined that Obamacare would cost the state an additional $7 billion in its first 10 years and require the state to immediately hire another 300 people.
Read the full ThinkProgress report and see the video here.