I think this was Howie’s column for NY Post but Herald wanted to run it too
The elephant in the room named health care
by Howie Carr
Thursday, January 21, 2010
U.S. Sen.-elect Scott Brown bobbed and weaved a bit at his post-election press conference yesterday when asked about Massachusetts’ universal health-care law.
Yes, Brown acknowledged, he voted for it, which has already become a talking point among the chattering classes - see, even this GOP troglodyte knows there’s a need for Obamacare. So go for it!
But, Brown quickly told the press, before moving on to less controversial topics, such as terrorism, there are a few problems with the Massachusetts law that needed to be worked out.
Yes, there are, to put it mildly. Costs are exploding, and although the word “rationing” is gingerly avoided, that’s what the state is talking about, just as the federal government is, even with the current health plan stalled and perhaps doomed.
The fact that Brown campaigned as “the 41st vote” to stop Obama’s plan - well, never mind. But Obama’s plan is increasingly unpopular here.
Even the early federal proposals have been attacked by the wife of the most prominent Massachusetts supporter of Obamacare - Sen. John Kerry. His 71-year-old wife, Teresa, was diagnosed late last year with breast cancer, just about the time a federal “task force” recommended that women begin receiving mammograms at age 50 rather than 40.
“I was so upset about that decision of this panel,” Teresa said, and indeed, the administration quickly backed off.
Mrs. Kerry didn’t say much after that one interview, but apparently she understands the reality of what Massachusetts bureaucrats like to call “cost containment.”
Here is a compendium from a story last July in the Globe, which was predicting a 15-point Martha Coakley less than two weeks ago, and calling the race a “dead heat” as late as Monday. Even the Globe has been unable to put a shine on this sneaker:
“A state commission recommended . . . putting providers on a budget as a way to control exploding health-care costs . . . (to reduce) unneeded tests and procedures . . . patients could find it harder to get procedures they want . . . they might find it difficult to get care wherever they want . . .”
Care - you know, like mammograms.
No one who voted here Tuesday believes that a federal plan will cut costs. It hasn’t worked at the state level. Last November, the state’s Division of Health Care Finance and Policy issued a dry report on the system. In the executive summary on Page 2, the state admitted, “Health care in Massachusetts is projected to cost $3,000 more per person by 2018 than the national average.”
So much for saving money. But what about the “waste, fraud and abuse” that Obama always mentions - or used to - as a way to cut costs?
“It’s not like the fat sits out here easily identified and you just slice it off,” said one of the state bureaucrats. “It’s marbled throughout the meat.”
In 2006, then-Gov. Mitt Romney signed the bill into law amidst great fanfare at Faneuil Hall. Standing behind to his left was Sen. Ted Kennedy, whose seat is now to be filled by a Republican, and then-House Speaker Sal DiMasi, who has since been indicted on federal corruption charges and is facing up to 185 years in prison.
It’s not a photograph you’ll find on any of Romney’s Web sites.
Gov. Deval Patrick will deliver his annual state of the state address tonight. No one expects him to say much, if anything, about the state’s universal health-care plan.
He’s running for re-election.