Some Republican governors continue to resist implementing health insurance exchanges in their state as required under the Affordable Care Act, but former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) is urging Republicans to embrace health reform. In an editorial for The Week, Frist argues that both parties should accept the exchanges, which originated as a “Republican idea”:

State exchanges are the solution. They represent the federalist ideal of states as “laboratories for democracy.” We are seeing 50 states each designing a model that is right for them, empowered to take into account their individual cultures, politics, economies, and demographics. While much planning has yet to be done, we are already seeing a huge range in state models. I love the diversity and the innovation.

States have until November to turn in their exchange plans, but governors in states like Florida, Wisconsin, and South Carolina are refusing to act on the law until after the November election if Mitt Romney is elected and tries to repeal the law. After the Supreme Court ruled on Obamacare, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) called on the governors to ignore the ruling and stop implementing the state-level programs. But as Frist correctly notes, inaction would only lead the federal government to establish the new insurance marketplaces.

Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) veered off GOP’s “repeal and replace” talking points yesterday during an appearance with CMS administrator Don Berwick in Nashville, Tennessee, suggesting that the next challenge in health care policy is not rolling back the Affordable Care Act, but implementing it:

FRIST: You know, we’ve seen Medicare, we’ve seen Medicaid, we’ve seen the most recent reform — the Affordable Care Act. I think what we’re going to see now is no more legislation but a demand for implementation of all these in an improved modernized way through partnerships and I’m very hopeful, based on both the most recent legislation but also the incentives of the system, that all of that centers on value that is quality and outcomes and results for dollar invested… it will be a partnership between the public sector, the private sector, and the government.

Watch it:

At the forum, Frist also reiterated his belief that the Affordable Care Act would survive legal challenges, even if the individual mandate is declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The senator had supported the individual mandate back in 2009, when, in an op-ed for U.S. News and World Report, he wrote, “It is time for an individual health insurance mandate for a minimum level of health coverage.” “It is a conservative approach that would affordably achieve necessary goals,” he added. In April 2010, Frist also gave an “A” grade to the provisions in the law aimed at expanding insurance to an additional 32 million people, but argued that the administration could have done more to control spending.

Yesterday at a health conference in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, former Senate Majority Leader Bil Frist (R-TN) predicted that the Affordable Care Act would survive, even if the individual mandate is declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court:

“I think the individual mandate is unconstitutional. It’s not the bill I would have written,” Frist said. “But it’s not going to fall. The law will be shaped by these elections.” [...] But Frist said state insurance exchanges and a mandate on businesses to provide employee health coverage will bring in substantial revenue to build on the foundation that already has 150 million Americans carrying group insurance through their employers. [...]

He called the reform law 70 percent good and 30 percent bad. He had been out of Congress for three years when the law came up for a vote last year, but he urged Republicans to support it.

Frist supported the mandate back in 2009, when, in an op-ed for U.S. News and World Report, he wrote, “It is time for an individual health insurance mandate for a minimum level of health coverage.” “It is a conservative approach that would affordably achieve necessary goals,” he added.

In April 2010, Frist also gave an “A” grade to the provisions in the law aimed at expanding insurance to an additional 32 million people, but argued that the administration could have done more to control spending.

Former Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) is predicting that the American people will pressure the super committee into reducing the growing costs of entitlement programs, which, Frist says, may finally have a real “shot” at tackling the nation’s health care spending. But during the interview with Kaiser Health News, the former Senate leader also put a dent in the Republican criticism of the Affordable Care Act: he likened the final debt ceiling deal — the triggers that would go into effect if Congress fails to adopt the committee’s recommendations and the committee itself — to the ACA’s Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), which congressional Republicans have condemned as rationing. “I think the IPAB may or may not be successful,” he said:

MARY AGNES CAREY: What about this automatic trigger that kicks in if they don’t get an agreement? Does that create additional pressure for this committee to act?

BILL FRIST: It does, it does. And I think there have been several efforts. The administration made one through the IPAB, Independent Payment Advisory Board. Somebody besides the 535 people — 435 in Congress and 100 Senators — somebody has to take a leadership position on making recommendations — take some of the political heat — make the recommendations and have them support it. So, I think the IPAB may or may not be successful. I think 535 people all throwing in their favorite programs and how to cut and how to restrain is not going to be effective. So this intermediate ground this time around has a shot. We saw it work very well with the base realignment closing after the Cold War, closing down the bases. Up or down vote. Can’t amend. Can’t play politics with it. That’s the model we’re following. We don’t know if it’s going to be successful, but I think this time around, it does have a shot.

But the triggers and the super committee may make far deeper cuts in Medicare and Medicaid than the IPAB, which — despite Frist’s assumptions — the majority of Americans actually oppose. Still, his admission that most Republicans ended up voting in favor of the very same kind of mechanism that they have spent months decrying because it was signed into law by a Democratic president, presents an unflattering comparison to conservatives who are looking to repeal the health care law.

In October, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) broke with his party to argue that health care reform “is not socialized medicine” and suggested that he could have voted for the bill. “You hear a lot of people on the extreme say that socialized medicine is going to come in and control everything. Socialized medicine is where the government owns the hospitals. They own the doctors and they decide how much people are getting paid. And that’s not what’s in these bills,” Frist told Washington Journal.

Yesterday, during a panel at the American Hospital Association with Tom Daschle, Frist again characterized the new law as a moderate measure that he “sort of likes.” From Emily Walker of MedPage Today:

Frist, a thoracic surgeon, told Time magazine back in October that if he were still in Congress, he would vote for the bill. And his support apparently hasn’t wavered. On Monday afternoon he said he would give an “A” grade to the provisions in the law aimed at expanding insurance to an additional 32 million people. Cost, however, is another matter. While most Republicans would likely slap a failing grade on the cost aspect of the law, Frist said he’d rank it a “C.”

“I like the bill,” Frist said during a panel discussion with former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle at the American Hospital Association’s (AHA’s) annual meeting. “I think it’s got lots of positive stuff in it, other than the costs.”

Frist also praised President Obama’s second health summit, saying the President had “persuasive charisma” and “command of the subject.” “You have a president there who got his hands dirty, but still looked presidential,” Frist said.

Earlier this month, Frist predicted that the state lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of health reform would likely fail. “”I don’t think that is going to be successful,” Frist told reporters after a speech last Thursday to educators in Nashville. He added, “From a justice, fairness and equity standpoint, I’m very proud of this administration and that America has addressed this.”

This morning, former Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) — who spent a year working as a doctor for the British national health service — argued that President Obama’s health care reform “is not socialized medicine” and predicted that Congress would pass a health care reform bill by December:

So first of all, what the Obama administration is doing is not socialized medicine. You hear a lot of people on the extreme say that socialized medicine is going to come in and control everything. Socialized medicine is where the government owns the hospitals. They own the doctors and they decide how much people are getting paid. And that’s not what’s in these bills.

Watch it:

These “people on the extreme” are members of Frist’s own party. In July, Michael Steele, the chairman of the Republican Party, called Obama’s health plan “socialism.” After the HELP committee passed its health bill, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) predicted that “one in five people have to die because they went to socialized medicine!.” Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) called the public option “socialized medicine” and Rep. Pete King (R-NY) described Obama’s campaign health care plans “socialized medicine.”

Frist has recently characterized Republicans as “party of no,” endorsed the individual mandate, and the Senate Finance Committee’s approach to health care reform. During the CSPAN interview, he even praised certain aspects of the British health care system. “There are some great things about the system as well,” he explained. “The primary care, basic care, those physicians get paid more than primary care physicians here…I think from preventive care is probably better there as well.”

Frist encouraged Congress to invest more dollars in prevention and change the way the government pays for health care services. “If you reimburse not on volume, not on quantity, not on more stuff, but on outcomes, on performance, on value to the patient, what works…if you’re really going to get cost effective health care… you have to come with a value based, and not a volume based system.”