thanks, Martha Bebinger

It’s a tragedy that so much money and effort has been poured into this terribly flawed reform law – isn’t it time to seize the momentum and re-chart the course toward real reform? And please don’t tell me “but what about all the newly insured?…” Yes, that’s VERY good for the short term but not if it comes at such a high cost to the state that we can’t sustain it, largely due to the wasteful financing mechanism (that Romney and Bush & CO. were so pleased with), and if it abandons and punishes those who remain uninsured. That is NOT A GOOD THING.

Slowly the national media are starting to get this, see this [Wall Street Journal piece http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB120173996744030445.html

Note that the dimensions of the law that deserve closer scrutiny go FAR FAR beyond the budget numbers to address the core values and principles (or lack thereof) of the individual mandate policy that is a centerpiece of the MA Plan.

and while we’re on the topic of national publications “Getting it”, take a look at this

[The New England Journal of Medicine
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/358/6/549?query=TOC

“…Relentless medical inflation has been attributed to many factors — the aging population, the proliferation of new technologies, poor diet and lack of exercise, the tendency of supply (physicians, hospitals, tests, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and novel treatments) to generate its own demand, excessive litigation and defensive medicine, and tax-favored insurance coverage.

Here is a second opinion. Changing demographics and medical technology pose a cost challenge for every nation’s system, but ours is the outlier. The extreme failure of the United States to contain medical costs results primarily from our unique, pervasive commercialization. The dominance of for-profit insurance and pharmaceutical companies, a new wave of investor-owned specialty hospitals, and profit-maximizing behavior even by nonprofit players raise costs and distort resource allocation. Profits, billing, marketing, and the gratuitous costs of private bureaucracies siphon off $400 billion to $500 billion of the $2.1 trillion spent, but the more serious and less appreciated syndrome is the set of perverse incentives produced by commercial dominance of the system….”

For those who share the commitment to create a humane and effective healthcare system to provide quality affordable care for all, please join the growing movement at http://www.HealthCare-Now.org

For the record, health reform spending is not estimated to be $400 million over projections next year. The Governor’s budget expects total spending to grow next year by $400 million, but that is entirely different than a $400 million cost overrun. Much of the increase was totally expected, due to enrollment growth and medical inflation.

The original legislative budget estimates, which did not use the lower DHCFP estimates of the number of uninsured, projected a $325 million increase between FY08 and FY09.

And of course, the cost to the state is estimated to be $156 million, since with increased spending comes increased federal revenue.

Slowly the national media are starting to get this, see this column by Paul Krugman.