Dom Giordano Has Heated Discussion With Pa. Governor Tom Corbett
By Dom Giordano
PHILADELPHIA (CBS)--Dom Giordano got into a heated discussion this morning with Governor Tom Corbett over a program that allows Gateway Health to use funding from the Department of Public Welfare to distribute $25 Walmart gift cards to recipients for going to the dentist.
Corbett explained Gateway Health receives the same amount of money for each patient and has decided to incentivize them with the gift cards, and in the long term, expects to reduce the cost of healthcare through more frequent preventative dental visits. Giordano objected to people that are not working receiving a gift card on top of free dental care with Corbett answering that the state will pay the same amount with or without the gift cards and that, "what's sad is we can't get people to go and get their healthcare."
Regarding his budget address earlier in the week, Corbet told Giordano, "What we're doing is presenting a balanced budget. Were looking at what resources we have [and] what needs we have. We're looking at the money that we have without increasing taxes. If I look at what the Democrats are saying, they want me to spend more and they want me to tax more. We're not doing that. We're looking at how we invest the money in Pennsylvania."
Giordano then questioned the latest transportation bill, that increased the gasoline tax, to which the Governor responded, "It's not a big tax. What we did is we took the cap off the wholesale price of gasoline, not at the pump, but to the wholesale dealer. We were losing money. There was a tax on there, it was capped at $1.25. The wholesale price was at $3. We were losing revenue. We've eliminated the state tax at the pump. We're phasing that out and phasing the other one in over five years." Corbett says this change was necessary to repair and maintain the roads and bridges of the commonwealth.
