Comments on: Doctors Blast Bill That Links Licensing To New, Business-Friendly Health Plan

By: Responding To Critics, Physician Makes The Case For Affordable Health Plan | CommonHealth

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:25:59 +0000

[...] Keeping health care affordable is the challenge facing all of us in the health care system and we recognize that rising health care costs have fallen particularly hard on small businesses and their employees. But as the chairs of the Health Care Financing Committee asked members of the Massachusetts Medical Society and other providers that testified at Monday’s hearing of Senate Bill 2170, “If not this, then what’s your solution?” We haven’t seen any proposal from the Mass. Medical Society to help small businesses. (See the MMS post on SB 2170 here.) [...]

By: Jeff Tyrakowski

Jeff Tyrakowski — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:43:49 +0000

Utter rubbish. Health insurance is expensive because health care is expensive. 90% of our state’s insureds are covered by not-for-profits like Blue Cross. And they pass nearly 90% of the premiums they collect through to the providers. It’s stunning that the richest class of people in America – physicians – can make these arguments with a straight face.

By: Arthur Jenkins, MD

Arthur Jenkins, MD — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:56:29 +0000

So glad I left Massachusetts. You couldn’t pay me enough to come back and practice medicine in the Peoples Republic of Taxachusetts.

By: philsue

philsue — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:52:27 +0000

The bill is absolutely ill-conceived. I’d note that it also shifts costs to consumers by making the lower provider rates available only in a plan with a very high deductible, and to large employers, whose premiums will go up because of cost-shifting. If there ever was a clear admission by health plans that they can’t do anything to truly control costs, this is it. It’s time to declare defeat in our attempts to control health care costs through health plan contracting and competition among plans and start getting serious about using government to deal with rising health spending.