Posted on 04/26/2011 7:05:22 AM PDT by massmike
Earlier this month, the landmark Massachusetts health care reform law turned five years old. Democrats were quick to applaud the anniversary, as the Bay State law is the model for the federal health care reform package that passed last year.
The anniversary has proved especially inconvenient for former Massachusetts Governor and probable Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who argued forcefully for his state's reforms. In 2006 he boldly stated, "Every uninsured citizen in Massachusetts will soon have affordable health insurance and the cost of health care will be reduced."
Five years later, that prediction has proved false. Worse, the Massachusetts experiment offers an ominous preview of what lies ahead for the rest of the nation under ObamaCare.
Of the previously uninsured individuals who have signed up, 68% are receiving free or subsidized coverage.
Many of these people aren't even citizens of Massachusetts. A recent report from the Massachusetts Inspector General found that state agencies have failed to implement controls to prevent ineligible people from making claims. In 2010 millions of dollars were spent on medical services for individuals from 48 other states and several foreign countries.
Despite the expansion of insurance coverage, people are continuing to seek routine medical care in expensive emergency rooms. Emergency room visits climbed 9%--or 3 million visits--between 2004 and 2008. The bill for uncompensated care has exceeded $400 million.
The average employer-sponsored family health plan costs nearly $14,000. That's higher than anywhere else in the nation.
Massachusetts retailers report that their health insurance costs have risen 15% per year since 2006.
Over the past five years, Massachusetts has spent billions expanding access to coverage--but has little to show for its efforts. ObamaCare has the country positioned to repeat the Bay State's mistakes--many more times over.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
There is a need for sudden care clinics so people don’t have to go to the emergency room for non-life threatening medical care.
Maybe McRomneybamacare will be the answer. Face it. The GOP is not going to rid us of Socialized Medicine. They are going to give us Lip Service and tweak it a little. In the end it will be the National Health Service.
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