Massachusetts enacted a near-universal medical insurance plan four years ago. It was “heavy” on mandates but “light” on explanations of how to pay for those mandates. Then early this year, Democrats in Congress used Massachusetts’ plan as a model when they enacted ObamaCare. They, too, had no realistic plan to pay for it.
Well, you may have seen this passage in a recent Associated Press article: Massachusetts’ “spiraling insurance costs … are threatening to undermine the [state’s] 2006 health care law … .” Premiums have gone way up, and lawmakers in Massachusetts are now searching desperately for a solution to out-of-control costs.
Shouldn’t Massachusetts – and Congress – have thought about those unintended effects before enacting socialized medicine programs?