I suppose if you are reading this blog you are at least familiar with the fact that Massachusetts passed a health reform bill with the help of a Republican governor who just ran for President but lost during the primaries due to his Mormon beliefs in heretic serpents. Or something like that. I don’t know which sentence seems more unlikely now if I didn’t know what actually happened, health reform or serpents. When I heard about this magnificent piece of news I was shocked as I couldn’t ever imagine this occurring. More significantly it gave me hope for the rest of the country. As this happened in 2006, it should have had time to become a model for the rest of the country. If you are not familiar with the reform that was passed in the ole MA in 2006 you might be surprised to learn that it actually helped cover nearly the entire population of Massachussets citizens. More importantly, in this state where cigarettes are nearly $8 a carton and everything is more expensive than in Florida they were able to cover the entire populace with health plans that were also better than what we are forced to give out in Florida.
Health Reform From Mitt
In 2006 health care costs were rising, but they didn’t seem to me anyways looking as if they would become our country’s only business. How does the Massachussets model work? By mandating coverage for everyone. If you don’t get it you are forced to pay a state penalty and are covered by the states backup plan. If you can’t afford it you are put on the state subsidy list. Everything seemed impossibly greater then I could have ever imagined. But where is our Star health reform bill today?
After bottoming out on alcohol and pain killers Health Reform Bill was just a shadow of his former star self. Used to dating models and actresses, now he was married to a pill bottle.
That is silly. What is happening in Massachusetts right now is that nobody fixed the main issue first. Which is COST CONTROL. As I have said many times here before, without health care cost control, you can pass any bill you want to and it won’t change the fact the economy is becoming a giant health insurance company. No more American Government, instead the we will have an Aetna Government.
The numbers from Massachusetts show the real pain of reform without change. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, insurance premiums have jumped 78% over the past 8 years while wages have barely budged above 15%. Which means that 37% of the residents of Massachusetts can’t even afford to pay their copays and deductibles.
As you go further with this information and add in the employer pain of paying these health insurance costs you are looking at what is most certainly the most silly situation in the world. How are we letting health insurance companies and the health field in general threaten our entire way of life? Why would we let these companies dictate any of the legislation that is passed for anything, anywhere! We don’t have the best medicine in the world, we have the best medical care for just some people and the rest all 50 million of them have the worst medical care in the world. The people that can afford these ridiculous prices will be happy to keep paying them, rather than lower their standard of care to allow access to care for millions of others.
I support the Massachusetts model, I support just about anything that lets us take control of our economy away from not just these health companies but from any company whether it is a Wall Street power broker or a crooked Washington lobbyist. No person, no company should have any effect on the laws for a whole country. This is ludicrous.
