Posted on 01/28/2008 8:50:12 AM PST by Ol' Sparky
(CNSNews.com) - According to recent reports, the cost of Massachusetts' health insurance mandate will rise 85 percent, or $400 million, in 2009. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), meanwhile, has been on the presidential campaign trail praising the program he put into place.
According to The Boston Globe, the cost increase is largely due to an increase in the number of people signing up for state-subsidized health insurance. State and federal taxpayers are likely to shoulder the cost increase.
"Essentially, the people who signed up under the mandate were the people who were getting subsidies," said Michael Tanner, director of health and welfare studies at the libertarian Cato Institute.
Carmen Balber, a consumer advocate at Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, added, "What we've seen happen in Massachusetts is that lots of people are signing up for subsidized care," although "just 7 to 8 percent of the people who have newly signed up for health insurance have enrolled in a program they must pay full price for."
Tanner told Cybercast News Service that the state will likely need to raise taxes to cover the additional costs.
Romney, however, has been campaigning on the health insurance plan as a success.
"We put in place a plan that gets every citizen in our state health insurance, and it didn't cost us new money," he said during the Republican debate in New Hampshire on Jan. 5. "It didn't require us to raise taxes."
"Mitt Romney likes to brag that he got universal coverage in Massachusetts without a tax increase," said Tanner. "I don't think that's going to be true for long."
Romney said he would not mandate at the federal level that every state adopt Massachusetts' plan, "but what I would say at the federal level is we'll keep giving you these special payments we make if you adopt plans that get everybody insured," he said during the debate.
"I'd say each state needs to get busy on the job of getting all our citizens insured," he added. "It does not cost more money."
"It didn't cost any more money while he was governor because it wasn't in effect while he was governor," said Tanner, noting that Romney is likely to drop the issue while campaigning.
"He's in a bit of a bind. It's his signature accomplishment," he said. "Mitt Romney has found out that you can't be a little bit pregnant on government-run healthcare. It's hard to tell everyone you're the heir to Ronald Reagan while you're touting Hillary Clinton's health care plan. There is no material difference between the two."
Balber said the new cost estimates have proven Romney wrong. Her state of California has a similar plan that would mandate residents buy private health insurance and subsidize coverage for those who could not afford it.
"The proponents for this measure take a very low estimate for the number - 5.6 million - for the number of uninsured in California. Broadly, 6.5 to 7 million is considered the reasonable estimate," Balber told Cybercast News Service.
"California is also facing a huge budget deficit, so the idea that they are going to be able to take on the enormous new expense of this Schwarzenegger health care plan on top of this budget deficit they are facing is absurd," said Tanner.
Romney's campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this article.
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