Massachusetts: Universal Ain’t The Right Word

Sunday, August 19th 2007
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They Should Totally Hire Me To Design Their State Seal

Word on the struggles of Massachusetts’ “universal” health care plan is nothing new. And I’m not really mocking them, I liked was accepting the plan so it is sad to see it fall short of it’s goals. Some sort of two tiered system is coming, despite my whining, and as far as plans come the Mass. plan had something for everyone…it was a good compromise which was is trying to spread the responsibility amongst all parties.

With all that said, once the struggles of any program hit the mainstream media you know they’re real. Just kidding. But here is MSNBC documenting the Massachusetts’ experiment.

The state has already backed off of “universal.” About 160,000 uninsured people in the state have incomes that are too high to qualify for subsidized health insurance — but too low to afford the lowest-cost unsubsidized plans. About 60,000 of these working poor won’t face a penalty for not getting insurance, but the 100,000 others are in a bind.

I think amongst the problems is that the private low cost insurance offerings Massachusetts was hoping/expecting have not materialized. Those that don’t qualify for subsidies are still facing premiums which are far above what the plan was hoping would materialize.

There are a bunch of other hurdles as well, but maybe this program will still achieve some “good” (as good as forcing people to pay for other’s insurance can be).