Comments on: Controlling Commonwealth Care Costs

By: katie stevens

katie stevens — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:19:54 +0000

is a plan like mass commcare the best we can expect if a public option goes through in washington?

do you think single payer is the way to go?

By: Parar de Fumar

Parar de Fumar — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:03:11 +0000

Lucretia: Are you serious? So you think smokers do a good job at killing themselves? Smoking will be a smaller problem in the next decades but it is still a bad habit. There is a lot of tax collected on tobacco and it’s good to spend it on things non related to smokers, what else would you do with all that money.

By: Lucretia

Lucretia — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 02:39:13 +0000

MCC: Although I am not a smoker, you seem to be concerned about those smokers who should be paying 50% higher premiums. On the contrary, I think we should tax the living daylights out of the extremely healthy because they are the ones that end up as Alzheimer’s patients at age 85-95. The smokers pay very large sin taxes, and I certainly haven’t heard any complaints about the big cigarette company settlement that doesn’t pay for free nicotine patches or gum or prescriptions for smokers trying to quit. All us taxpayers were only to happy to take that cigarette money and spend it on anything but smokers.

By: cct

cct — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:19:16 +0000

I feel that I have fallen through a crack in this system. I contacted the Commonwealth Connector to try to enroll, because my insurance premium through my employer takes nearly 1/4 of my gross pay, reducing my take-home to a very low level.
I was told I’m not eligible because my employer provides a certain percentage of that coverage.

I was also advised that my income is low enough that I can forgo health coverage altogether and not pay the tax penalty. This is advice direct from the very office supposedly trying to get everyone covered by health insurance!

To add insult to injury, I learned via this news story that rates for Commonwealth coverage are not going up for next year, in part because of “cost shifting” onto….you guessed it- people like me who are private subscribers to one of the same companies.
Come on, Massachusetts!

By: MCC is a tax

MCC is a tax — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 22:42:01 +0000

If they reduce the increases on small biz, then the subsidized insurance pricing will increase. This will raise taxes for everyone. You can’t treat a group of 10 like a group of 400 for pricing and risk. The difference is that a group of 400 gets claims reports and can more to a self funded product. A group of 10 is being held by their ankles over the Tobin bridge. They have no options. Also, you can’t have a GI state with no rate ups(no rate up for smokers is absurd), the largest mandated benefit package in the country, and a history of programs that have had no deductibles without having a completely dysfunctional and broken system.

I can completely understand not charging an insured more if he/she has an illness. Some diabetes is congenital and some is diet based. That’s just the way it works sometimes. Smoking is a completely different situation. Smokers should absolutely, no questions asked, pay 50% more for their health insurance. Look at the stats. Smokers and smoking related diseases are a huge drain on the dollars spent on health care. I wonder how many people that receive free or heavily subsidized insurance are smokers. It would be interesting to know that stat.

By: Jon Hurst

Jon Hurst — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:28:52 +0000

pj and mcc are absolutely correct. Our small businesses are reporting increases in the 15-25% range–again. Small businesses are seeing their sales drop by double digits, yet big health care still hits them with double digit increases while giving the discounts to the big payers. MA “Health care reform” is heading for a train wreck unless this premium discrimination ends and small businesses are treated fairly in the marketplace. Either give them the market based competitive solutions which they are denied today, or impose strict rate regulation–NOW. Reforms planned for next year may be too late for thousands of small employers and their employees in this economy. The Governor should task the Division of Insurance to hold immediate rate hearings and demand reduced rates for small businesses.
Jon Hurst
Retailers Association of MA

By: MCC is a tax

MCC is a tax — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 11:42:28 +0000

But tamping down rates in one part of the insurance market may push up rates for residents who buy private health plans.”

May push up rates?? How naive are you?

This is pushing up rates for small businesses.

By: pj

pj — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:05:26 +0000

I wish my small employer was only seeing an 8% – 10% increase…we are getting whacked with a 26% premium hike…while subsidizing all the legitimate CommCare memebers as well as the freeloaders (there are more of them than you think).