Posted on 04/05/2006 7:05:04 AM PDT by CSM
Tuesday, April 4, 2006 10:54 p.m. EDT Romney to Sign Mandatory Health Bill
BOSTON -- Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a bill Tuesday that would make Massachusetts the first state to require that all its citizens have some form of health insurance.
The plan — approved just 24 hours after the final details were released — would use a combination of financial incentives and penalties to dramatically expand access to health care over the next three years and extend coverage to the state's estimated 500,000 uninsured.
If all goes as planned, poor people will be offered free or heavily subsidized coverage; those who can afford insurance but refuse to get it will face increasing tax penalties until they obtain coverage; and those already insured will see a modest drop in their premiums.
The measure does not call for new taxes but would require businesses that do not offer insurance to pay a $295 annual fee per employee.
The cost was put at $316 million in the first year, and more than a $1 billion by the third year, with much of that money coming from federal reimbursements and existing state spending, officials said.
The House approved the bill on a 154-2 vote. The Senate endorsed it 37-0.
A final procedural vote is needed in both chambers of the Democratic-controlled legislature before the bill can head to the desk of Gov. Mitt Romney, a potential Republican candidate for president in 2008. Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said the governor would sign the bill but would make some changes that wouldn't "affect the main purpose of the bill."
Legislators praised the effort.
"It's only fitting that Massachusetts would set forward and produce the most comprehensive, all-encompassing health care reform bill in the country," said House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, a Democrat. "Do we know whether this is perfect or not? No, because it's never been done before."
The only other state to come close to the Massachusetts plan is Maine, which passed a law in 2003 to dramatically expand health care. That plan relies largely on voluntary compliance.
"What Massachusetts is doing, who they are covering, how they're crafting it, especially the individual requirement, that's all unique," said Laura Tobler, a health policy analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The plan hinges in part on two key sections: the $295-per-employee business assessment and a so-called "individual mandate," requiring every citizen who can afford it to obtain health insurance or face increasing tax penalties.
Liberals typically support employer mandates, while conservatives generally back individual responsibility.
"The novelty of what's happened in this building is that instead of saying, `Let's do neither,' leaders are saying, `Let's do both,'" said John McDonough of Health Care for All. "This will have a ripple effect across the country."
The state's poorest — single adults making $9,500 or less a year — will have access to health coverage with no premiums or deductibles.
Those living at up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $48,000 for a family of three, will be able to get health coverage on a sliding scale, also with no deductibles.
The vast majority of Massachusetts residents who are already insured could see a modest easing of their premiums.
Individuals deemed able but unwilling to purchase health care could face fines of more than $1,000 a year by the state if they don't get insurance.
Romney pushed vigorously for the individual mandate and called the legislation "something historic, truly landmark, a once-in-a-generation opportunity."
One goal of the bill is to protect $385 million pledged by the federal government over each of the next two years if the state can show it is on a path to reducing its number of uninsured.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has threatened to withhold the money if the state does not have a plan up and running by July 1.
Not just in taxes, but that $295/employee will be passed on to the consumer, a double whammy.
Unfortunately, I have to agree. I had hopes for him too.
GDRINO
In Utah GD stands for Gosh Darned.
Might as well bring back the blue laws. All those loonys driving up to NH on sunday for beer and lottery tickets.
Actually it could work the other way too. If people find out they need costly heart surgery or something health insurance won't cover, move on down to Massachusetts.
This is about socialism versus individual responsibility. There will never be enough taxpayers to pay for socialized medicine. It undermines freedom of choice, undermines private property rights, and sends a message to those who smoke, abuse alcohol, use illegal drugs, overeat, and never exercise, that the government (taxpayers) will provide "free" medical care. Got AIDS caused by homosexual sodomy? Your child is born with a birth defect due to your use of illegal drugs? Smoke a pack a day? Drink to excess? Don't worry, the government will take care of you. Apparently news of the failure of the USSR has not been reported in the Boston Globe.
An unbelievable socialistic state of affairs...unbelievably. The great banner state of liberty from the 1770s is going down (and has been for a long time) a socialistic path which is nothing more than communism/marxism light and is intended to lead there.
John and Sam Adams, Paul Revere, and all those other patriots are surely turing over in their graves and hiding their faces in shame.
Amen. See my post 28.
I normally would try to respond to comments on a thread to ensure that I wasn't posting and fleeing, however in this case there are so many good comments that I can't respond to only a few.
I agree with all sentiments posted in the first 30 or so. Romney signs this and he might as well run as Hildabeast's VP......Socialism...economics....
All good feedback! That's why I love FR!
Unless your landlord has about $200K available for a treatment of a serious disease or accident he will not be able to pay and he is not responsible. Having cash to see your dentist or family doctor for an annual checkup or the occasional throat culture is cheap. Everyone should have to pay for these kind of visits, but insurance is for the catastrophic kind of treatments that if we live long enough, everybody will need it.
The problem is that the uninsured do cost everybody in the form of increases in our premiums.
As it stands, those who could afford to purchase health insurance pay their own way when they get sick...or use catastrophic health insurance. Those who cannot afford to buy health insurance - and I cannot imagine why - there are many plans out there and most states offer subsidized health insurance paid for by the taxpayer - are breaking the bank...everyone's.
The worst thing to do is to expect the employer to pay again for this subsidy.
>>>Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a bill Tuesday that would make Massachusetts the first state to require that all its citizens have some form of health insurance.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1563271/posts
Healthy People 2010
Massachusetts "Welcome to the Commie State" Free Food, Free Healthcare, Free Housing ...
except for the poor hard working slobs who support all the goldbrickers in the state!
I don't mind that they come here to spend their money; what I mind is when they decide to stay - and proceed to import their left-wing politics along with their (still) Kerry-Edwards-bumper-stickered Volvos. The same goes for Vermont - even more so.
>>>requiring a list of ever-growing treatment mandates.
That is already defined. Go see the CDC links of the 28 focus areas on the Healthy People thread. There is a database waiting for your name in the field!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1609552/posts?page=35#35
Here it comes!
Socialism...
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