A couple of things Democrats don't mention about Massachusetts Health

[Armstead]

With the Democratic support of Mitt Romney Health Care in Massachusetts as a "model" for national healthcare policy, a couple of things are not mentioned.

1)The mandates have screwed over and scared a lot of working people. The "public support" that has been mentioned is largely among people who had insurance anyway, but for many people it is a hardship. Reform in Massachusetts has also not brought down healthcare costs -- Even supporters of the plan admit that they basically only did half the job.

On the positive side of the ledger for Massachusetts and negative for the rest of the country:

2)Unlike most of the country, Massachusetts has a comparatively progressive healthcare system, especially for those who have problems affording insurance but do not qualify for Medicaid. Before Mitt's "reforms" there were already public coverage programs sorta similar to a "public option" for working people who are financially on the margins and small businesses. So the mandates DID NOT TOTALLY THROW PEOPLE TO THE WOLVES.

The Democratic Congress who are pushing a similar "Massachusetts plan" are NOT supporting even the same minimal amount of progressive alternative back-up that Massachusetts has.

[eridani]

1. If you are middle aged, of modest income, and have health problems

It totally sucks. But as long as the 85% of the population that will never get expensively sick is happy to be deluded into thinking that they actually have "coverage," it's all good.

[Craftsman]

2. My wife is from MA, and a number of here friends have moved out to NH

This was the the last straw with them. They voted with their feet, and an Uhaul.

[Armstead]

3. I'm from mass and do volunteer work for an organization involved with the working pooor

This mandate was really hard on a lot of people.

[Craftsman]

10. These are early to mid 30's college educated people

This mandate was the last straw for them. They went to where there is no income or sales taxes.

[Vinca]

4. As I've posted before, a woman who works at a local store told me

her husband - an insurance broker in Massachusetts - can't find affordable health insurance for their family. She was stewing about the fine.

[Armstead]

5. And they want to do this to the whole country

[ipaint]

6. 21% of People in MA Still Forgo Necessary Medical Care

A number of supporters of the current Senate bill have been pointing to RomneyCare to argue that mandates and exchanges can be wildly successful in providing care. But a September 2009 Kaiser Commission review of the MA experience had this to say:

"According to a March 2009 Urban Institute report, health reform has improved access to health care services for newly insured and previously insured adults. Over ninety percent of adults in Massachusetts have a usual source of care and most reported seeing a doctor in the previous year. However, the affordability of health care remains a barrier to receiving care for some residents. Of the total population, 21 percent went without needed care in the previous year because of cost. People with disabilities and those in fair and poor health experienced the greatest barriers to accessing care."

There is some good in this snippet. It says that people–presumably some of them for the first time in a while–are getting primary care. But it’s also saying that more than one-fifth of them are forgoing medically necessary care because the health insurance they have is too stingy to make that medically necessary care affordable.

The MA program is not dissimilar to the Senate bill. It allows for policies with deductibles of up to $4000 for families and other out-of-pocket fees, though it actually has lower out-of-pocket limits than the Senate bill. What MA considers to be an affordable premium is not all that different from what would be required under the Senate bill. (While I don’t think all the Senate subsidy levels have been released, making a one-to-one comparison impossible, it appears that the Senate bill offers an affordability opt-out for the affluent–families making $114,401–that the MA program doesn’t have, but requires the middle class to pay higher premiums–$441/month versus $364/month for a family making $66,150; go figure, the House of Lords screwed the Middle Class again).

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/12/17/21-of-people-in-ma-still-forgo-necessary-medical-care/

[Armstead]

7. From the same article...

"It’s one thing to require people to buy insurance if it is affordable and it guarantees that it’ll actually get them the care they need. But if it doesn’t (and the Senate bill wouldn’t for the middle class), then it just becomes a wealth shift from the middle class to the health care industry."

[secondwind]

8. ssshhh. I live in MA and have exercised my first-ever act of "civil disobedience"........

After paying almost $600/mo, for 8 months, I finally got to see a doctor -- in Nova Scotia! I had been having severe pain on my left shoulder for some time,but couldn't get an appt. with my primary care doctor. So we rolled up to our vacation place, and I told my host "I could really use a doctor". He made one quick call, and turned to me and said "They said for you to come right over".....a 10-minute drive away!

The clinic was spotless, not crowded (it was a Sunday....try getting to see a doctor here on a Sunday).....the physician was a 54-yr-old guy from New Brunswick. He spent 45 minutes with me, and they even took 3 x-rays. He said I had most likely a rotator cuff problem (which I did), and gave me some tips on what "exercises" I should do, etc.

When I went to pay the bill, I said to myself "let's see what this Canadian healthcare system is all about". The cost for THREE x-rays was $99 Canadian for all three. Imagine that! $33 for an x-ray! And the doctor bill? (I figured it would be steep, probably 150 to 200, because it was Sunday and all that).......The doctor bill was $50 Canadian!!! The admitting fee was the highest, at $110 Canadian, but still cheaper than here.

Now compare that to my follow-up visit to my primary care physician (who I finally got to see 10 days after I returned from vacation. The visit was 20 minutes long if that, I told her I had trouble with my ears (sinus, drainage, etc.) She took her "tool" and looked in my ear for 2 seconds, and said "I don't see anything but ear wax".....!!! I was stunned. I also told her that I was a bit depressed (I had lost 40% of my money last year), and that I could use something for a few months to help me out. I explained to her that I had used an anti-depressant in 2001 (Prozac) . My mother died in '01, then a dear friend a month later, then a brother-in-law on September 4th , then came 9/11. I told my husband in Nov. '01 "I'm done". I took Prozac from Nov.'01 to May '02, and that was that.

Even after telling her all that, she blurted "I don't believe in THAT (anti-depressants)...Talk to your family and friends"....(huh?)...

I tried once more before I left - feeling a bit rushed out the door, and she again repeated "Talk to your family and friends, I don't believe in that".. She was an nice Indian lady, but I didn't get my money's worth!!! The cost of THAT visit was $456 for a COMPREHEN. visit! Bullshit.

So glad I wasn't suicidal when I was before her.

Anyhow, I am happily without any insurance since October, and plan to stay that way until Medicare kicks in in 2011, or I will just go into the hospital and pay all my unpaid health insurance premiums in one check.

I'm not sure we have the greatest care .......

[Laelth]

9. The individual mandate is just a bad idea, top to bottom.

Forcing people to buy insurance is no more the solution to a failed health care system than forcing people to buy houses is the solution to homelessness.

:dem:

-Laelth