Happy St. Patrick’s Day. According to Thomas Cahill’s How the Irish Saved Civilization, Patrick – a former slave – was the first person in recorded history to speak categorically against all forms of human slavery. That’s for real. The snakes – well, that’s another matter.
In his honor, let’s get down to business…
The advocacy community is concerned that the Connector Board is moving toward a Thursday vote on premium increases up to 14 percent and doubling/tripling of many co-pays for Commonwealth Care enrollees.
When the late February Board meeting was cancelled to give time for a “broader” stakeholder involvement, the advocacy community submitted numerous ideas to address funding challenges. The Administration set a 30 day timeframe for consideration. Thirty days is not up, but the Connector now is moving to put the weight of financial problems on the backs of enrollees before asking any other stakeholders to participate.
Who are the other stakeholders? Providers, insurers, and business to name three. Readers of this blog know the former two are doing pretty darn well. Business also was supposed to have a robust leg of the “shared responsibility” stool as well. Legislative crafters of Chapter 58 projected about $218.5 million in employer contributions from the Fair Share Assessment and the Free Rider Surcharge in FY07, 08 and 09. Instead, net collections are now estimated at $18 million.
The Patrick Administration may say they need legislative approval, but they don’t with regard to rules governing the “Fair Share Assessment.” Those were written by the Romney Administration in August 2006 to provide the biggest possible pass to most businesses that offer minimal or no coverage to workers. Both chairs of the Health Care Financing Committee – Senator Dick Moore and Representative Pat Walrath – have publicly stated they think the Romney rules violated legislative intent.
Why the rush to lay new costs on lower and lower middle income CommCare enrollees – many of whom pay premiums as high as $1260 a year while businesses offering no coverage pay no more than $295 a year?
It’s not fair; and it’s not right. We urge Governor Patrick to postpone a decision until “shared responsibility” has been tried for real.
John McDonough
Executive Director, Health Care for All
You reap what you sow.
So why are “consumer advocates” who have supported this law all along acting surprised?
The writing has been on the wall for years that this is exactly the direction that Chapter 58 and the mandate would take, ever since “health care reform” in the Massachusetts was essentially taken over by MA BlueCross and BlueShield – they created the individual mandate blueprint – and the Heritage Foundation – they gave Romney the Connector blueprint. These dirty little secrets of health reform are just the tip of the iceberg…
You reap what you sow. That goes for the public, too. It’s time to elect A LOT of new legislators and to demand new leadership for many of the advocacy groups.
I agree with Get Real.The law is suppose to be “affordable” insurance and “universal” it is neither.The lawmakers and Governor have no control over the Commonwealth Connector and the deals they make with the insurance companies.I find that hard to beleive.The people of Massachusetts need wake up come voting time.
It is sad that only a few of us really know what’s happening. The Connector board headed by Mr. HMO himself has certainly made it a winfall for Blue Cross as supported by the “profits” and compensation packages that made the press not too long ago. They have made the “minimum Creible Coverage” rules such that the HMO’s are the only ones who will be left in the game. They are the ones in bed with the politicians and the DRUG companies. They will Approve a large rate increase to support profits and payments for “expensive” DRUGS. Don’t forget a recent study proved that US citizens are paying more for their drugs than any other country in the world and the sad part is that most are made right here in USA!
I am an Accountant and follow the Health Insurance issue closely. I get phone calls from small business owners asking how thaey can claim less income so they can qualify for state subsidized insurance since the policies that meet MCC requirements as of 1/1/09 are incredibly expensive. So less Tax revenue coming in (State & Federal) and more people “Qualifying for State Subsidized Health Insurance”!!!! This is going to be a financial DISASTER!!!!
The real solution would be to have the MCC requirements broadened so that all policied do not have to cover drugs and can have different co pay and deductables so long as their is disclosure. Also the DOI should relax all mandates which was the original catalyst behing the highest premiums in the country. Massive deregulation and some kind of cap on mal-practice law suits would bring more competition and lower rates for insurance, drugs, and health care. I would only say that they would have to require insurance companies to disclose limitation in a very bold and understandable.
Also require haelth care providers to have a place where you would be able to see the costs of procedures so you could compare providers and costs. TRANSPARENCY!!!! My last visit to the hospital and doctor I asked what my procedure would cost and they couldn’t tell me up front!!! Thats BS!!