Posted on 07/31/2008 8:49:09 AM PDT by greyfoxx39
Gearing up for 2009, liberals are eager to claim Massachusetts as a Valhalla of health reform. Their enthusiasm is apparently evidence-proof.
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Most of this growth in coverage has instead come via a new state entitlement called Commonwealth Care. This provides subsidized insurance to those under 300% of the poverty level, or about $63,000 for a family of four.
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As this public option gets overwhelmed, budget gaskets are blowing everywhere. Mr. Patrick had already bumped up this year's spending to $869 million, $144 million over its original estimate. Liberals duly noted that these tax hikes are necessary because enrollment in Commonwealth Care is much higher than anticipated. But of course more people will have coverage if government gives it to them for free.
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Mr. Patrick wants one-time (yeah, right) charges of $33 million on insurers and $28 million on providers, plus some shuffling of state funds. The balance comes from an estimated $33 million boost in the state's "pay or play" tax: If businesses don't offer "fair and reasonable" insurance to their employees, they get hit.
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A state-sponsored study shows that total spending on mandates was $1.32 billion in 2005, or 12% of premiums. The study is devastating despite its pro-mandate slant.
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Not that such practical lessons have stopped liberals from joining the Massachusetts parade. They have to gussy up the state's model because the extravagant claim that led to its creation -- that health care will be less expensive if everyone is covered -- is being relentlessly discredited.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Search is our friend. Blind Anger is not.
Try looking at your co-supporters of Mitt for the blindness...AND the anger.... at anyone who refuses to worship at the feet of the Chosen One With Perfect Hair!
Maybe you could change the title to "hey, we need another Romney Bashing Thread".
Gee, THAT sounds a little angry to ME...you have about 25 recent Romney-worshipping threads to choose from...just ignore this one. I promise not to miss you.
Reagan was the real thing and he also knew how to connect to ordinary people. That’s another thing the Ann Coulter wing of the conservative movement doesn’t quite understand.
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...... Romney is an economic genius.
Sen. John Kerry to Don Imus on RomneyCARE=HillaryCARE: "I like this health care bill".
Romney: Make all the promises you have to...
Guilty
16 years of Republican Governors was a run of good luck more than anything else. If Romney hadn't run in 2002, that luck would have ended with Jane Swift or another losing candidate. If Romney had run in 2006, the winning streak might have continued. I can't say for sure, but when a Democrat state finally elects a Democrat again, it's more nature reasserting itself, than Romney's fault.
I was just suggesting a title that would more accurately reflect the thread contents. Most of the large comments to this thread cover a much broader range of subjects than what the WSJ said about Mass. health care.
I can find no bills passed relating to it. Maybe you can find one, I couldn't.
There have been regulatory changes but nothing major.
I suspect the plan is running as it was intended to.
The “old way” had the state coughing up “a billion” in tax money for the uninsured.
Now the state is coughing up 850 million or so to keep the new system running, for a net savings. Plus, some of that money is raised through fines, so it's not a tax.
If Romney's plan required Romney to stay there and run it, it lacked robustness and portability. This is a problem with any State run program, what happens if incompetent or bad people get their mitts on it? Soshacurity is a fine example.
Which is why it is always a bad idea to pass enabling legislation with even the best of safeguards. We don't have any disagreement here. But can you imagine the People's Commonwealth of Taxachusetts actually electing anyone who did?
Why do you think most of the conservative base (myself included) migrated to him after Fred Thompson dropped out? Are we all stupid and you're right?
Sorry, but I tend to trust Rush, Hannity, Ann Coulter and people who have actually done something for the conservative movement more than I do you.
So tell us who you support.
Fact check: Romney was the last republican governor in a string of RINOs and arguably the most conservative RINO of that string.
Too bad you couldn't do the same.
I support anybody but Obama. I don't need to be in love with a candidate to vote for him, nor do I see any of them as a savior for the world. That doesn't mean I will stay silent about a fraud.
It wasn’t just luck. MA was once ‘taxachusetts’ because of dukakis and Weld was a real supply sider/libertarian. Republicans can win in MA if they talk taxes and economic freedom. Not by raising fees, pushing corporate welfare and Commonwealth Care. That’s the old country club republican economics of Nixon, Ford, H.W Bush and George Romney.
no he wasn’t
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Taxes/hl663.cfm
I’m sure the Mass liberals at the Boston Phoenix are more than glad to oblige you in your “useful” work.
I’m not sure if the purpose of this WSJ op-ed is to try to convince McCain not to choose Romney as his running mate, or to chastise liberals in general for their love affair with statist health care.
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