5 Painful Lessons from MA Health Care

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
I

Infohawk

Lifer
Jan 12, 2002
17,844
1
0
Lesson 1: The Massachusetts plan does not control costs.
Lesson 2: Community rating, guaranteed issue and mandated benefits swell costs.
Lesson 3: Huge subsidies for low-to-medium earners could prove extremely expensive.
Lesson 4: The exchanges reward people for working less and earning less.
Lesson 5: The generous plans and added mandates give employers an incentive to drop health insurance.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/15/news/economy/massachusetts_healthcare_reform.fortune/

Lesson 1 is the biggest and I think is relevant to Obamacare in that he didn't address it. You don't guarantee services that can be unlimited in cost. What are your takes on the MA experience?
 
glenn1

glenn1

Lifer
Sep 6, 2000
25,383
1,013
126
Infohawk said:
Lesson 1: The Massachusetts plan does not control costs.
Lesson 2: Community rating, guaranteed issue and mandated benefits swell costs.
Lesson 3: Huge subsidies for low-to-medium earners could prove extremely expensive.
Lesson 4: The exchanges reward people for working less and earning less.
Lesson 5: The generous plans and added mandates give employers an incentive to drop health insurance.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/15/news/economy/massachusetts_healthcare_reform.fortune/

Lesson 1 is the biggest and I think is relevant to Obamacare in that he didn't address it. You don't guarantee services that can be unlimited in cost. What are your takes on the MA experience?
Click to expand...

My take? I believe that MA will impose draconic tax hikes on its residents forcing many middle class persons into poverty, and then the state goes bankrupt.
 
MJinZ

MJinZ

Diamond Member
Nov 4, 2009
8,192
0
0
glenn1 said:
My take? I believe that MA will impose draconic tax hikes on its residents forcing many middle class persons into poverty, and then the state goes bankrupt.
Click to expand...

What?

Our State's latest budget plans didn't even require using reserve money.

And it is adding jobs and recovering far faster than the rest of the country.

MA > ALL.

We basically lead the rest of the nation. Gay Marriage. Healthcare. Economic recovery.
 
halik

halik

Lifer
Oct 10, 2000
25,696
1
0
Infohawk said:
Lesson 1: The Massachusetts plan does not control costs.
Lesson 2: Community rating, guaranteed issue and mandated benefits swell costs.
Lesson 3: Huge subsidies for low-to-medium earners could prove extremely expensive.
Lesson 4: The exchanges reward people for working less and earning less.
Lesson 5: The generous plans and added mandates give employers an incentive to drop health insurance.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/15/news/economy/massachusetts_healthcare_reform.fortune/

Lesson 1 is the biggest and I think is relevant to Obamacare in that he didn't address it. You don't guarantee services that can be unlimited in cost. What are your takes on the MA experience?
Click to expand...

Seems like the fine for not having insurance isn't high enough in MA
 
Patranus

Patranus

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2007
9,280
0
0
MA can do what they want in their own state.

Sadly this idea is lost on our federal government.
 
C

charrison

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
17,033
1
81
MJinZ said:
Well the idea is that employers pay for health insurance. The assumption is that the employer picks up at least 75%.
Click to expand...

yes and it is still a cost. The more they pay in bennies, they less they can pay out for other things.
 
BoberFett

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,563
9
81
Doesn't MJinZ claim to work "in law" or some such? Must work in the mail room. Certainly can't be in any position of real authority, as clueless as he appears to be.
 
WhipperSnapper

WhipperSnapper

Lifer
Oct 30, 2004
11,442
32
91
This is what happens when the reform is only on the surface. It would be more interesting to see how things would have worked out has Massachusetts adopted real socialized medicine which has proven to be more efficient, less expensive, and superior to free market-based medicine.
 
WhipperSnapper

WhipperSnapper

Lifer
Oct 30, 2004
11,442
32
91
This is what happens when the reform is only on the surface. It would be more interesting to see how things would have worked out if Massachusetts had adopted real socialized medicine which has proven to be more efficient, less expensive, and superior to free market-based medicine in just about every other first world country that has implemented it.
 
manimal

manimal

Lifer
Mar 30, 2007
13,560
8
0
MJinZ said:
What?

Our State's latest budget plans didn't even require using reserve money.

And it is adding jobs and recovering far faster than the rest of the country.

MA > ALL.

We basically lead the rest of the nation. Gay Marriage. Healthcare. Economic recovery.
Click to expand...

Its funny to me that states like MA and cities like San Fransisco are so vilivied when they do so much that is right.
 
Bateluer

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
8
0
WhipperSnapper said:
This is what happens when the reform is only on the surface. It would be more interesting to see how things would have worked out has Massachusetts adopted real socialized medicine which has proven to be more efficient, less expensive, and superior to free market-based medicine.
Click to expand...

And yet, oddly enough, all the people in those 'efficient' socialized medical systems came to the US and its free market health care system to get their surgeries and procedures done.

Of all the bills the Federal government has passed in the past decade, the four that really have pissed me off have been 1)Obama-care, 2)TARP, 3)Obama Stimulus 1, 4)Obama OmniSpending. All of these have resulted in massive debt, and will result in inflation and tax increases to pay for them, the proverbial death spiral.
 
ch33zw1z

ch33zw1z

Lifer
Nov 4, 2004
37,766
18,045
146
Many of our small businesses Western MA have folded and left due to the heathcare bill. IMO, it's hurt our state more than it's helped. The money from Boston gushes on the eastern side of the state, and trickles to the western side...
 
rudder

rudder

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
19,441
85
91
Lesson in UHC from Tennessee:

If you give someone something for free.... they are going to use a hella lot of it. More than you ever projected. And once they get used to that freebie, you ass is going to get sued if you try to reign in costs.
 
Thump553

Thump553

Lifer
Jun 2, 2000
12,676
2,430
126
MJinZ said:
Well the idea is that employers pay for health insurance. The assumption is that the employer picks up at least 75%.
Click to expand...

I'd like to know where you get that figure from, and what it means. If you mean that the portion shown on your paycheck stub as a deduction for healthcare is 75% of the cost you are grossly mistaken. I'm self-employed and pay 100% of the health insurance for my wife and myself, both in excellent health, mid-50's. We pay north of $8,000 per year for a catestrophic type plan, or over $150 per week. Talking to friends who also pay their own health care, our plan is cheap to normal. If we had more typical health coverage, the cost would be much higher-when I left my last traditional employer seven years ago they were paying in excess of $14,000 per year for Blue Cross for my family.

Many people don't realize that deduction shown on your paycheck as a deduction for health insurance is little more than a token portion of the true cost.


Get unemployed, or self employed, and you will find out quickly what it really costs-especially when the fed govt's subsidy of COBRA benefits expires.
 
Last edited:
B

BlahBlahYouToo

Lifer
Jul 10, 2007
12,050
3
0
BoberFett said:
Doesn't MJinZ claim to work "in law" or some such? Must work in the mail room. Certainly can't be in any position of real authority, as clueless as he appears to be.
Click to expand...

he is one of the most annoying posters on this board.
even more annoying than the blahblahyoutoo guy.
 
Circlenaut

Circlenaut

Platinum Member
Mar 22, 2001
2,175
5
81
This is a good thing, it's painful at first but it's a step in the right direction. Health insurance should NOT be tied to your god damn employers. That's WAY too much leverage that employers have over people that are very ill. In MA we're require to be under employer care but at least if I get canned for whatever reason I have options. That's not the case in most other states before health care reform. This was the primary reason why I did not take a job in Florida.

The other thing (hopefully it's in the national health care bill) is that poor college students in MA are handed the short stick when it comes to health insurance. For students coming from poor MassHealth families (non-mass health/commonwealth care beneficiaries are covered under parental plans if under 26) coverage ends at 19. Students can't then enroll into commonwealth care because most schools already provide "coverage". If you ever read these plans, they are the worst POS ever conceived and we only had 1 option. I had to pay $300/month during college to buy the state non-subsidized plans. I literally had to choose many months between eating and buying my medicine. These are not choices that someone in a 1st world nation should be making.

Say whatever you want, heartless conservatives, but I firmly believe that health care should be something in the same scale as schooling/policing and all other public services. Thanks to this fiasco my credit is now ruined for the next 7 years because I had to fight Tufts tooth and nail every time a claim came along. I had one claim be in "processing" for 6 months. And of course it went to collections after 2 months while in "processing". Is Tufts going to help clean my credit after fucking up? No.... Thank god I'm not with them anymore. Would this happen if I was enrolled under commonwealth care like I should have? Not a chance.

And to those that say I'm not entitled to healthcare, I ask you this. Are you entitled to police protection? To K-12 Schooling? Yes, most things in life we are not entitled to but we've evolved and taking care of and improving the lives of our fellow countrymen is in the best interest of the whole nation. Even if you riches have to pay 10% more in taxes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom