Samuel Johnson called second marriages “the triumph of hope over experience.” The same might be said for the latest health care reform bill at the State Capitol.
For more than 20 years, crusading politicians have promised to deliver better health care to more people for less money simply by saying “make it so.” With rare exceptions, the resulting legislation exacerbates economic distortions, makes insurance impractically expensive, drives insurers out of the state, and creates worse problems than originally existed.
READ MOREIt’s back to the drawing board for certain Colorado health care reform advocates. Cambridge Health Alliance, a major Boston areas safety-net health care provider has just reported that the Massachusetts health care reform plan is saddling it with large losses.
The Massachusetts plan requires everyone to buy health insurance. The reform plans from Colorado’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care Reform and Club 20 copy key elements of it. If everyone is insured, advocates say, safety-net providers will need far less support. Needless to say, Colorado hospitals and health plans eager to get paid have no qualms about lobbying lawmakers to make their fellow citizens pay for coverage designed by a government committee and legislators are happy to believe that less safety-net care translates into reduced state payments.
READ MOREWhat good is having medical insurance if you cannot get medical care? Peddlers of “universal health care” – from Hillary, Obama, to 2nd Congressional democratic candidate Jared Polis – don’t get this.
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