A Democratic activist moved to Massachussets, where she expected to be covered by the state’s universal health care program. Oops, it didn’t work out: She can’t afford the premiums. In the process, she learned that Obamacare might not be the wise course that people of her political ilk seem to think. From the article by Wendy Button:
How could all of these weeks and months go by and no one is examining and talking about what has worked and what hasn’t worked in Massachusetts? While the state has the lowest rate of uninsured, a report by the Commonwealth Fund states that Massachusetts has the highest premiums in the country. The state’s budget is a mess and lawmakers had to make deep cuts in services and increase the sales tax to close gaps. The number of people needing assistance has at times overwhelmed the state. The mandate means that some people who can’t afford insurance are now being slapped with a fine they also can’t afford. There is no “public option” in the way the president describes it, no inter-state competition, no pool for small businesses and self-employed individuals like me to buy into groups that negotiate cheaper rates. So far I haven’t found any “death panels,” but if I get sick and need a hospital, I sure hope I can find one and a feisty granny to pull my plug.
What makes this a double blow is that my experience contradicts so much of what I wrote for political leaders over the last decade. That’s a terrible feeling, too. I typed line after line that said everything Massachusetts did would make health insurance more affordable. If I had a dollar for every time I typed, “universal coverage will lower premiums,” I could pay for my own health care at Massachusetts’s rates.
Ouch. Button then asks a very good question:
Why can’t Washington look north to Massachusetts? What’s the lesson for the nation in its successes and failures: universal coverage first or cost reductions? If health care is a right, then why aren’t we starting over with Medicare for All? If health care is a responsibility, then why aren’t we changing the system to address that? There is a big red flag planted in the middle of this state and it looks like everyone’s just pledging allegiance to it rather understanding the warning in its wave...I want health care reform. I need it, but I want Washington to start over. It doesn’t make me “un-American” or “astroturf” or “racist.” I’m a critic because what Washington is talking about doing has made health insurance unaffordable in Massachusetts.
That’s because it isn’t really about reform. It is about the acquisition of power. Thanks to Button for an important piece.
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