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Originally Posted by Dom182  Massachusets is not a true universal health care system. What they have done is pass a law that requires everyone to purchase private healthcare. THeir solution to those that dont is to fine them. Yet as of December 1, 2007 only 37% of the 657,000 uninsured had gained coverage under the new program. These individuals often feel well served by the reform in that they now have health insurance. However, 79% of these newly insured individuals are very poor people enrolled in Medicaid or similar free plans. Virtually all of them were previously eligible for completely free care funded by the state, but face co-payments under the new plan.
Among the near poor uninsured (who are eligible for partial premium subsidies) only 16% had enrolled in the new coverage. And barely 7% of the uninsured individuals with incomes too high to qualify for subsidies had enrolled according to the official state figures. Few can afford premiums for even the skimpiest coverage; the lowest cost plan offered for a couple in their fifties costs $8,200 annually, and carries a $2,000 per person deductible.
Moreover, the state’s cost for subsidies is running $147 million over the $472 million budgeted for fiscal year 2007. Meanwhile, collections from fines on employers who fail to provide coverage are 80% below the original projections
Isnsurance cost in general have increased under the plan as, the new state agency that brokers private coverage adds its own surcharge of 4.5% to each policy it sells |
The program sounds like a bust.
The biggest factor in a successful program is price controls, (as stated before) and I don't see anyone in the US going for that. -Doctors, Pharm companies etc.....
Good luck.