No, the $40Mil “compromise” is most decidedly not sufficient. More importantly, narrowly focusing on that one group of state residents’ needs alone won’t right the tumbling house of cards called “Massachusetts Health Reform”. All residents’ health care needs are important, including immigrants.

Before the ink was dry from then Governor Mitt Romney’s pen when he signed the 2006 insurance bill into state law (called Chapter 58), it was clear that the plan would fail because the power-brokers (corporate and in state and federal gov’t) had decided to ignore cost control needs.

For months leading up to passage of the Chap 58 law many of us activists had been telling everyone who would listen about the glaring lack of cost control concern and that it would bankrupt the state and doom the plan to failure–including our legislators (mine were Sen Wilkerson and Rep Sanchez at the time) and members of the media–all turned a deaf ear.

It’s past time to go back to the drawing board and put ALL POLICY options for meaningful reform on the table for consideration. These options must include a streamlined, conservative financing mechanism for universal coverage, an approach called “single payer”. Variants of this approach are used in all other industrialized nations that enjoy better care for less cost. It is akin to a establishing a program of improved Medicare-for-All.

Yes, the state residents referred to in this post–who are our co-workers, friends and neighbors–need and deserve quality healthcare. So does everyone else. Guaranteed Healthcare. Equitable healthcare.

Cardinal Bernardin’s eloquent words on this issue point to the work that must be pursued; this work most decidedly is NOT an individual mandate to purchase over-priced private insurance nor to rely on a house of cards to subsidize purchase of said private insurance.

“Health care is an essential safeguard of human life and dignity, and there is an obligation for society to ensure that every person be able to realize this right.”

—Cardinal Joseph Bernardin

To learn about reform that has been proven to work, read about the Massachusetts Health Care Trust Bill (House Bill 2127). It has been re-filed for over 12 years and would create a Single Payer Health Care System for Massachusetts, guaranteeing first rate health care coverage for every resident of the state, while saving money for state and local government, businesses, and residents.

Learn about the HC Trust bill at http://www.masscare.org/ma-single-payer-bill
Learn about the current failing law at http://www.masscare.org/ma-health-reform-law
and
http://www.masshealthlawtruth.org