It was always ironic when backers of ObamaCare socialized medicine pointed to Massachusetts’ 4-year-old “universal health care” plan as a “model” for a national medical takeover.
After all, the Massachusetts plan has patients waiting longer to see specialists and family practitioners. And far from declining, medical spending has skyrocketed. Family health insurance premiums have increased drastically, too.
But now comes news that Massachusetts’ medical system is in even worse shape than everyone thought. Spending is so out of control that legislative leaders are pushing measures that would cap payments to hospitals and doctors. A state commission recommends that Massachusetts stop paying providers based on the services actually provided, The Boston Globe reported. Instead, it says doctors and hospitals should get a flat, per-patient fee, no matter how much care a patient receives.
And what happens if a patient needs far more care than the flat fee would cover? Promoters of the bill won’t admit it, but physicians will start leaving the state or retiring early rather than face such losses.
Gov. Deval Patrick would go one step further. He has proposed a bill “that would give state officials power to review and reject rates set by hospitals, physician groups, medical imaging centers, and insurers,” The Boston Globe reported.
What officials in Massachusetts seem unwilling to do, though, is consider how their “universal health care” program has contributed to explosive medical spending. News of the payment caps came on the same day that puzzled officials held hearings on why costs are rising so fast, the newspaper reported.
If Massachusetts is truly a “model” of what ObamaCare is going to bring to the rest of the United States, both health care and our economy are in deep trouble.