This morning the Boston Globe reported that: “Overseers of Massachusetts’ trailblazing healthcare program made their first cuts yesterday, trimming $115 million, or 12 percent, from Commonwealth Care, which subsidizes premiums for needy residents and is the centerpiece of the 2006 law.” The overseers also “eliminated dental coverage for the poorest residents enrolled in Commonwealth Care, roughly 92,000 people.”
In other words, Massachusetts has begun to deny health care for their residents.
Moreover, Massachusetts’ universal health care plan has not reduced costs or eased the burden of health care spending on the state’s budget. According to a recent Cato Institute study, “Since 2006, total state health care spending has increased by 28 percent. Insurance premiums have increased by 8-10 percent per year, nearly double the national average.” The study also noted that: “the increase in the number of insured is primarily due to the state’s generous subsidies, not the celebrated individual mandate.”
Even the state’s treasurer, Timothy Cahill (D), said that the Massachusetts plan shouldn’t be a national model: “It’s a warning for the federal government as it looks to do something similar…I’m not saying we can’t afford any of it, but it certainly doesn’t appear that we can afford all of it.”
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