South Carolina's waiver proposal is based on the untested and unrealistic assumption that the private sector can quickly jump in and deliver essential health care services to hundreds of thousands of South Carolinians at less cost than the current program without allowing people to fall through the cracks.

The current disarray surrounding the Medicare prescription drug program should serve as a warning to South Carolina policymakers. Like South Carolina's proposal, the Medicare prescription drug program is extremely complex and relies heavily on the private sector. Problems with implementation of the new Medicare drug program have left many low-income seniors without needed prescriptions.

Under this plan, the state could find itself paying more to provide less health care for its citizens.

Riches are a stronghold in the imagination of a rich man.

For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

Nature abhors a hero. For one thing, he violates the law of conservation of energy. For another, how can it be the survival of the fittest when the fittest keeps putting himself in situations where he is most likely to be creamed?