A Reminder of What Happens When You Privatize Public Services

Kentucky's a long way from Rick's Scott's Everything's Got to Go! No Offer Too Low! firesale of Florida state government, but its attempt to save money on Medicare by letting a private contractor handle it offers more proof that privatizing government always fails.

Tom Loftus at the Courier-Journal:

As the state auditor's office zeroed in on what it described as extravagant spending by Passport Health Plan officials last August, the organization's two top administrators were still running up the tab — attending a convention of conservative state legislators at a luxury resort on the San Diego waterfront.

The cost of the trip for Shannon Turner, who was then Passport's executive vice president, and Nici Gaines, an associate vice president, exceeded $6,300, according to documents released to The Courier-Journal under the Kentucky Open Records Act.

State Auditor Crit Luallen's scathing report last November criticized Passport, which delivers Medicaid services to about 165,000 residents in the Louisville area, for lavish spending on such things as travel, meals and gifts during the 2007-09 period.

The report said such spending had an “uncertain benefit to Passport.”

Yet the documents obtained by the newspaper, after a court ruling that Passport must comply with the state open records act, show that such spending continued in 2010 — right up to the release of the auditor's report in November.

In all, Passport's spending on travel, meals and other entertainment totaled $27,728 in the first 11 months of 2010, according to the records.

Here's the thing about public services run by public servants: when they fuck up, you figure out who is the closest elected official to those public employees, and you run her out of office.

When those public services are contracted out to a private company, however, that separates the service from the elected official, and makes her far less vulnerable to the wrath of voters unhappy with poor service.

Who is more responsive to your complaining calls - the county road department or ATT? You really think a call center in Bangalore gives a shit about the snow blocking your driveway?