The New Health Care Bill Is Too Much Like The Massachusetts Program: Costly And Inefficient

See The Failure of RomneyCare: The former Massachusetts governor enacted something very similar to the Obama health plan. It isn't working well. From the WSJ, 3-17-10, p. A21. Exerpts are:

"While Massachusetts' uninsured rate has dropped to around 3%, 68% of the newly insured since 2006 receive coverage that is heavily or completely subsidized by taxpayers."

"More than half of the 408,000 newly insured residents pay nothing..."

"Another 140,000 remained uninsured in 2008 and were either assessed a penalty or exempted from the individual mandate because the state deemed they couldn't afford the premiums.

Mr. Romney's promise that getting everyone covered would force costs down also is far from being realized. One third of state residents polled by Harvard researchers in a study published in "Health Affairs" in 2008 said that their health costs had gone up as a result of the 2006 reforms. A typical family of four today faces total annual health costs of nearly $13,788, the highest in the country. Per capita spending is 27% higher than the national average."

"...intrusive government regulations that stifle competition in the insurance market and strict mandates on what services insurance must cover. A 2008 study by the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy found that the state's most expensive insurance mandates cost patients more than $1 billion between July 2004 and July 2005."

"... insurance companies are required to sell "just-in-time" policies even if people wait until they are sick to buy coverage."

"...many people are gaming the system by purchasing health insurance when they need surgery or other expensive medical care, then dropping it a few months later."

"Some Massachusetts safety-net hospitals that treat a disproportionate number of lower-income and uninsured patients are threatening bankruptcy. They still are treating a large number of people without health insurance, but the payments they receive for uncompensated care have been cut under the reform deal."

Masachusetts has a "..."critical shortage" of primary-care physicians."

"...many patients are insured in name only: They have health coverage but can't find a doctor."

"Fifty-six percent of Massachusetts internal medicine physicians no longer are accepting new patients..."

"For new patients who do get an appointment with a primary-care doctor, the average waiting time is 44 days, the Medical Society found."

"...increasing number of patients who rely on emergency rooms for basic medical services. Emergency room visits jumped 7% between 2005 and 2007. Officials have determined that half of those added ER visits didn't actually require immediate treatment..."

"Three of the four major health insurers in Massachusetts showed operating losses for 2009."

It was By GRACE-MARIE TURNER. Ms. Turner is president of the Galen Institute, a nonprofit research organization focusing on patient-centered health reform.