Today the Wall Street Journal and the American Thinker both reported on the healthcare crisis that is going on in Massachusetts as a result of the state taking over the healthcare industry in 2006. It has taken four years for the chickens to come home to roost, but they are here. (Just a note--the link to the Wall Street Journal will only get you part of the article--it's a subscribers only article).
One of the problems in Massachusetts is that no one can be denied insurance and pre-existing conditions are covered fully. What is happening is that people who have major medical issues wait until they know they are going to need expensive treatment, sign up for health insurance, and drop the insurance after the treatment. Harvard Pilgrim and Blue Cross (major insurance providers in the state) report that short term customers ran up costs well outside their normal expenditures, then dropped their insurance. This makes the cost of insuring everyone go up. When the companies asked for rate increases in their premiums, the governor denied 235 of 274 of the requests for premium increases.
According to the article at American Thinker:
"Massachusetts' "insurance regulators have concluded the reason [that state's] premiums are the highest in the nation is the underlying cost of health care, not the supposed industry abuses" imagined by President Obama and Governor Patrick."
That should have been obvious before they passed the law. As a result of the refusal of their premium increases, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Harvard Pilgrim, and Tufts Heath Plan (the major plans in Massachusetts) have stopped selling policies in the state. I'm not sure how this will end, but right now the state-run healthcare program that was supposed to be the example for Obamacare is in trouble. It will be interesting to see what the eventual solution will be.
Leave a comment