UHCEF Article of Interest

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Berkshire Eagle (click here for link to original article)
Editorial
January 24, 2007

The state’s new mandated health insurance plan has gotten favorable reviews in the early going, in particular from people earning 100 percent or less of the poverty level ($9,800 a year). As the program expands, however, unanticipated glitches are emerging, and the results of a study on the method many Americans are employing to deal with increasing health care costs testifies to the myriad problems of a system that requires an overhaul, not tinkering.

Massachusetts’ goal of insuring all of its roughly 200,000 uninsured residents is admirable and other states intend to emulate the plan, but acknowledgment last week by the Commonwealth Health Insurance Collector, the group charged with administering the plan, that the plan will cost $100 more a month than expected for some residents, was the first sign of difficulty. The board Monday postponed a vote to set minimal requirements for coverage on the recommendation of Governor Patrick and legislative leaders because the cost for those at 300 percent of the poverty level ($29,400 a year) would be as much as $380 a month. This is simply not affordable, and if the state is forced to grant too many waivers, the new system will break down.

The board has requested new bids, but judging from the critical comments of the board, and by extension the plan, from a spokesman for the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans, those new bids are unlikely to be any lower. The insurance industry, with its bloated bureaucracy and need for a substantial profit, is part of the problem, and the state’s new plan to help the uninsured has already run squarely into that problem.

Last week, Access Project, a nonprofit medical consumer advocacy group, and Demos, a public policy research organization, revealed a study concluding that Americans are now resorting to credit cards to pay health care costs that are increasing as employers shift more expenses to workers. Households that use credit cards to pay medical bills have on average $3,700 higher balances than households that don’t use credit cards for that purpose.

If the “health care safety net is made of plastic,” as Access Project Director Mark Rukavina concludes, the insurance system is making America even more of a debtor nation. What will it take for Washington to acknowledge the need for major reform in the form of a single-payer, government-run system?
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Universal Health Care Education Fund, 33 Harrison Ave - 5th floor, Boston, MA 02111
uhcef@aol.com | 617-723-7001 | 800-383-1973 | fax 617-723-7002

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