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.
Brilliant Description of Hanoi Kerry and Chappy Kennedy! Mass of Two Sh*ts . You win the Academy Award for Creative Writing! Thank you.
Oh, yeah, this will keep health costs from skyrocketing. /sarc
The only one that seems worth anything to me is George Allen.
I can't deal with the fact that Allen and Frist are our best options, even though it looks that way right now.
Before you blow off Mitt, this Turkey was going to be law no matter what he did,check out the vote in the goofy legislature.
You called me a bigot, and Johnnyz too.
Excellent point.
>> Apparently news of the failure of the USSR has not been reported in the Boston Globe. <<
LOL!
"The House approved the bill on a 154-2 vote. The Senate endorsed it 37-0."
How many R's are in the two chambers? Gotta be more than two.
Bite me! He's a Hillary light!
The only Northeastern state that I hold out any hope for is Pennsylvania, where the grip of the unions is loosening due to deindustrialization. Illegal immigration has been less of a problem outside of Philadelphia and environs. Much of the state is more Appalachian than Eastern Seaboard in flavor, and Pittsburgh has more in common with the three "C" cities of Ohio than with the East Coast megalopolis. The downside is that Philadelphia and environs is slowly entering the orbit of the New York - New Jersey metro area. In fact, some people already refer to that city as the sixth borough of New York.
I also worry about the long term prospects of the South Atlantic states, with the exception of South Carolina. The loss of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida to liberalism will doom the conservative cause.
Ditto.
"Health care for all and it will cost nobody any extra.
It is an economic miracle."
I've seen something like that happen in a David Copperfield show.
'smoke and mirrors' anyone?
btw, that 'no cost' ... I think they basically took Government spending on health care and re-sliced and diced it.
Based on your 30 reply, what do you think about mandatory auto insurance? Is it a socialist plan or is it ordered to insure personal responsibility?
"
Sorrry that you fell for the liberal PR on this, but the comparison is inapt.
Auto *liability* insurance exists because you may create a libarility via an accident and you need to have an ability-to-cover.
This is more like forcing everyone to carry collison insurance on their car.
Its Govt in your pocketbook and in your face.
"it promotes personal responsibility actually diminishes the need for socialist health insurance plans, because it keeps private insurers in the business of insuring private individuals, just as auto insurers are private."
Uh, Government regulation that stops Govt regulation?
hmmmmm.
"Smoke a pack a day? Drink to excess? Don't worry, the government will take care of you."
That is, until they (sooner rather than later) decide that your personal choices warrant the denial of health services until you conform to their mold. They'll still pay the costs, though, and have to hold the insurance.
This guy sounds like Hillary.
Did anyone suspect the RINO wouldn't?
Manditory auto insurance for everyone with a lisence because they might dirve. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! This bill also mandate that people who do not live in MA but work here have to buy it too. Does that include visiting sports teams? They go to Mass General if they get hurt. What about people on vacation. The Hell with Mitt Romney and Kerry Healy too. I will abstain at the convention.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.