Could you clarify how much authority the regions have over healthcare policy? I see that Fritzcare sets up CHPs as public sector corporations with borders the same as the regions, but how much regional authority do the regional governments have over those?
As the current SoIA, I would like to give my personal point of view on that issue. CHPs are independent public companies, for this reason, Regional Governments have as many powers as the Federal Government on that matter: none. They are controlled by a board of physicians, medical specialists and the folks from the healthcare industry, and Governor don't have much power on that.
Maybe, we should take a look at reforming that. What makes Medicare in Canada interesting and greater is because each Province has its own way to deal with its own programs, maybe we could have that in Atlasia. However, we may not forget what happened with Medicaid in real life, where empowering states on that matter wasn't really good...
The example you cite about medicaid, would minimum coverage standards or possibly goals in some way tied to a financial incentive have worked to encourage the states to increase coverage. As it worked out must just ended up cutting it two recessions in a row to avoid raising taxes, partially because they have balanced budget amendments.
Also, the Mental Health bill includes some requirements for the CHPs, have you reviewed these changes as well at this juncture?
