Skip to main content

Massachusetts En Route to Single-Payer Health Care

Mitt Romney has thorwn himself in front of a buzzsaw with his continuing defense of his 2006 health reform in Massachusetts.  The other day, the Wall Street Journal editorial board sharply criticized Mr. Romney's approach.  In a letter by yours truly that the WSJ published today, I noted another problem with the Massachusetts reform: It amplified political incentives that have put the solvency of Bay State health plans at risk.  Read the letter here.

For non-subscribers, the text is copied below:
Your editorial's criticism of Mitt Romney's 2006 Massachusetts health law is correct in that taxes, costs and political interference in medical decisions have all gone up while access to medical care has deteriorated ("Obama's Running Mate," May 12). The Massachusetts law also jeopardizes the very solvency of private health plans in the Bay State.

Because it was politically intolerable to allow premiums to rise in line with the costs of RomneyCare, the state's insurance commissioner denied 235 of 276 rate increases in April 2010. For a short time, no new policies were offered and plans suffered significant losses. The next month, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the state's largest carrier, announced a $55 million provision for anticipated losses in the second quarter alone. Of the 12 largest carriers, five were already operating at a loss. At this point, even if the state allows Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts to increase rates in line with medical costs, my analysis concludes that the carrier will become insolvent somewhere around 2017.

Gov. Romney did not give Massachusetts "universal" private health coverage. He put it on a glide-path to a single-payer, government-monopoly health system.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The big 6 energy companies made profits of £4,335,000,000 last year.

Figures just released by the Office of National Statistics claim that the number of households living in fuel poverty has declined by 0.7million ( see data here ). The government say that less than 5 million households live in fuel poverty, while Uswitch claim that 6.3 million households live in fuel poverty. Uswitch's figure is much more reliable as their's summer 2011 price hikes. We say a family is in fuel poverty when it spends 10% of household income on its dual energy costs of heating the home and operating cooking and electrical appliances. However, as USwitch explain the governments figures are appallingly out of state ( here ). The publication today by the government only examines fuel costs up to the end of 2010. The Office of National Statistics does admit that if it factored in housing costs then 3 million more households could be described as living in fuel poverty, it also admits that 72% of English households faced a high risk of fuel poverty at year end (2010)....
Post a Comment
Read more

clip on magnetic sunglasses visit here

Save with prescription glasses and sunglasses. Prescription eyeglasses with magnetic clip on sunglasses. A wide selection of colors and styles for every budget! -GlassesPoint. Prescription eyeglasses with magnetic clip on sunglasses. A wide selection of colors and styles for every budget! Free magnetic clip on with every pair of glasses.  The operator should contact lens Plano glasses a few days of Sun and Rx on the other person. Many people choose single vision lenses, designed for a specific use, such as prescription sunglasses. Clip-ons magnetic magnetic clip ons often come with their prescription glasses frames. Prescription glasses Goggles4u dollars from 29.99 with free shipping. Takumi neodium magnet glass features recipes that are light, strong and in. The combination of some normal prescription glasses and a pair of polarized glasses that glare-resistant to outdoor activities. clip on magnetic sunglasses visit here
Post a Comment
Read more

Attesting to Meaningful Use Quality Measures

I was recently asked how eligible professionals should report the Meaningful Use Clinical Quality Measures if there are zero denominators (i.e. you do not have any hypertensives, adults, or patients with 2 or more visits in the measurement period) Here's the answer as I understand the regulations and FAQs: 1.  Report on the 3 Core measures if you can, which include *Hypertension: Blood Pressure Measurement *Tobacco Use Assessment and Tobacco Cessation Intervention *Adult Weight Screening and Follow-up 2.  If any of the 3 Core measures has a zero denominator, replace them one-for-one with one of the 3 alternate core measures.   If you can’t get to 3 non-zero denominators between the core and alternate core, report on all 6 (even if it means that you have to report 6 zero denominators) *Weight Assessment and Counseling for Children and Adolescents *Preventive Care and Screening: Influenza Immunization for Patients ≥ 50 Years Old *Childhood Immunization Status 3.  Regar...
Post a Comment
Read more