Is the Massachusetts Healthcare Expirment "Obamacare 1.0"?

[steven johnson]

Governor Deval Patrick in Massachusetts wants cost controlo mechanisms to reign in the state healthcare costs that were predicted to be $700 million but are now $900 million. Their insurance rates are also increasing just like those in California.

The problem of underestimating costs has dogged the Massachusetts' plan and could potentially undermi tnehe Obama plan which has similar features.

http://commonhealth.wbur.org/guest-contributors/2010/03/the-cost-control-hearings-begin/

http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2010/02/11/patrick_wants_health_cost_veto/

What Obama didn’t mention was Massachusetts (and) Romneycare, aka “ObamaCare: The Beta Version.”

Maybe he thinks of us as the Manhattan Project of medical insurance reform. Too top secret to discuss. More likely, it has something to do with the nightmare results of this government-run debacle. Here are a few “highlights” of the current status of the Obamacare experiment in Massachusetts:

It’s exploding the budget: Our “universal” health insurance scheme is already $47 million over budget for 2010. Romneycare will cost taxpayers more than $900 million next year alone.

It’s killing us on costs: Average Massachusetts premiums are the highest in the nation and rising. We also spend 27 percent more on health care services, per capita, than the national average. Those costs, contrary to what we were promised, have been going up faster here than nearly everywhere else.

It’s creating bizarre marketplace mutations: In Massachusetts, ObamaCare 1.0 is such a mess our governor is talking about imposing draconian price controls. He’s even suggested going to “capitation,” a system where doctors get a fixed amount of money per patient - and then that’s it. Which means it would become in your doctor’s financial interest never to see you again.

The percentage of uninsured Bay State residents has gone from around 6 percent to around 3 percent.


Romneycare model a dud

[frazzled]

1. You're quoting a right-wing commentator from the Boston Herald?

Get outta here. If that's the bestyou can do--Michael Graham, who describes himself proudly as "loud, obnoxious and frequently fired"--you'd better give it up.

Try the Boston Globe and Harvard studies, which proclaim Massachusetts health care reform a success, and liked by 69% of residents.

[Elmore Furth]

2. The Rasmussen Poll said only 26% thought new healthcare system was a success

... and just 21 percent believe reform has made health care more affordable. And in the Scott Brown senate race exit polls, 48% mentioned healthcare as a key factor int their vote.

So what?

If the financial projections don't add up, polls are irrelevant.

If it is failing to control costs, then it's failing. A business that loses money goes out of business.

[frazzled]

3. Here you go

Two years after the implementation of a health care reform law aimed at providing health coverage for nearly all Massachusetts residents, public support for the law remains high. According to a new poll by the Harvard School of Public Health and the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, over two-thirds (69%) of Massachusetts residents support the law. Just over one in five (22%) oppose the law and approximately one in ten (9%) say they do not know enough about it to give an opinion. Since the law's passage in 2006, public support has increased slightly (69% in 2008 compared to 67% in 2007 and 61% in 2006). The poll was conducted June 10-23, 2008.

Other signs of public support for the law include the following:

77% support providing subsidized coverage
58% support requiring individuals to have insurance
71% say the law has been successful at reducing the number of uninsured in Massachusetts
See the full poll results.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2008-releases/hsph-bcbs-poll-strong-support-for-ma-health-reform-law.html

Krugman questions the Rasmussen numbers here:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/massachusetts-health-polling/

[Elmore Furth]

4. And over 50% believed there were weapons of mass desctruction in Iraq

So what?

http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=684

The cost of government programs has consistently been underestimated. This will be no exception. There is a reason Obama doesn't mention the Massachusetts experiment. It is a failure in saving costs. His pipe dream doesn't work.

Do you want to cite more polls?

Why?

[frazzled]

6. That would apply to your Rasmussen poll as well, now, wouldn't it

You can't have it both ways. (Unless you're hidebound to ignore a range of information in order to preserve your opinion.)

Rasmussen has been highly criticized for some of their polling techniques. But knock yourself out. You want, like the Republicans, to say that Massachusetts health care reform (which by the way, was only half reform, since it didn't address costs--only coverage) was an abysmal failure. Nothing is going to change your mind, so I'll go have another cup of tea.

[Elmore Furth]

9. Can't have it both ways?

I'm ignoring all the polls.

YOU are the one who is obsessing on them.

I am looking at economic projections that Obama plan is built on which is suspiciously like the one in Massachusetts.

[frazzled]

5. Oops, wrong place--removed and reposted

[Demeter]

7. I'll Quote My Sister in MA, NOT a Poll or a GOP Member

Romneycare sucks, its price is going to bankrupt the state and its people, and the coverage is terrible.

[janet118]

10. Your sister is right . . .

If this bill is passed without an affordable public option that is implimented immediately, nothing will change for middle class families and the Democrats will pay dearly in November. Gov. Patrick knows this, or he should. He should definitely talk to his friend Obama and let him know that without a strong public option or heavy regulation on private insurers, this plan is doomed. It will kill any chance for reform for decades and it will bleed our economy dry. Medicare for All on a sliding scale with a phase-in lowering the minimum age each year is the answer that's staring us in the face.

[Knight Hawk]

11. Yes

Why do I instinctively know this is true?

[Doctor_J]

8. How bizarre. The Herald is already blaming Romney's debacle on Obama

Laying the groundwork for campaigning for Willard in 2012.