Massachusetts Senate Race: A Referendum on Health Care Reform

Who would have guessed that a seat held by the Kennedys since the 1950s may find itself in the Republican column? A state wide seat in which registered Democrats out number Republicans 3 to 1? The news media is attributing these amazing turn of events -- with the Republican challenger leading in some polls -- to the general discontentment towards the party in power in both the White House and the Congress. Maybe, but I do not think so. I think it is much more personal than that.

One of the main reasons why voters are entertaining turning over one of its Senate seats to a Republican is that the people of Massachusetts have seen the future of socialized medicine and they know it doesn't work. They have been under a health care bill since 2006 that mirrors, in many respects, the Obama plan navigating through the Senate.

Forbes magazine has pointed out that many of the voters of Massachusetts are unhappy with the plan and for several good reasons. In an article titled "MAss Disaster," writer Sally Pipes exposes some of the ugly truths surrounding the socialized health care bill that has plagued the state.

Pipes reminds the reader of some words that have haunted then Governor Mitt Romney. "'Will Commonwealth care cost taxpayers more? No!' So wrote Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in November 2004, the economy then still in full bloom. 'Neither the state nor the taxpayers can afford to pay more.' She goes on to point out that "It's worth pondering ex-Gov. Romney's promises just over three years after he crossed partisan lines to reform health care in the Bay State. The Obama administration and congressional Democrats are modeling reform on the Massachusetts model, promoting bureaucratic health exchanges, increased restrictions on health insurance and vastly expanded taxpayer-subsidized care. Like Romney, they promise more coverage at lower cost, even as the evidence suggests otherwise."

So what do the people of Massachusetts think about the socialized health care experiment they have been a part of? The Forbes piece notes that "Only one in four considers the reform a success. Just one in five thinks it has made health care more affordable." I'm sure that many of the one-fourth work in government or they are among those that had no health insurance before and do not know quality care when they see it. They certainly are not seeing it in their own state.

A plan that was touted as a way to increase coverage without excessive government spending has had the exact opposite effect:

• Medicaid has increased by 76,000 enrollees and the subsidized plans by 177,000.


• Forty-six percent pay no premium, and


• another 12% are highly subsidized.


• A mere 19,000 have signed up for the non-subsidized private plans offered through the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector. These were the plans that Romney and others said would help contain costs.

To make matters worse, the bill is very costly. Most citizens are looking at spending 10 percent of their incomes on premiums or face impressive fines. So high, in fact, are the premiums, 20 percent of the state's residents have become exempt from the coverage. Many of these moved to Medicaid (as seen above), but at least 3 percent of the population are still without coverage. Instead of reducing costs, like the politicians promised as the bill navigated through the legislative process, it has significantly increased costs and has the government scrambling for revenues. Recently the state has taken a page out of Obama's book and has put a hit on smokers at the tune of $1 a pack.

So how will the state fight the growth in health care costs? The same way socialist health care systems have fought such runaway costs for years; through a bureaucracy that will cut doctors' income, moving patients into manage care, and the establishment of price controls. In other words, through the development of the same type of rationed care that dominates much of the world today. These are the exact type of approaches Massachusetts is pursuing.

The people of Massachusetts already know this type of health care does not work and that is why they are so close to electing a Republican like Scott Brown to the US Senate.

Kevin Price is a syndicated columnist whose articles frequently appear at ChicagoSunTimes.com, Reuters.com, USAToday.com, and other national media. Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at PriceofBusiness.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.

Does the GOP Shares Blame for Obamacare?

Besides the occasional Republican either voting for socialized medicine or preventing a filibuster of it, the guilt of the association with the proposal that passed the Senate and the GOP is very deep. In fact the recent bill, without the public option (but will force people into public care) looks increasingly like the failed experiment of Massachusetts.

Michael Tanner, a Senior Fellow with the Cato Institute recently noted that the primary highlights of Obama's health care program as it leaves the Senate mirrors the Massachusetts program that has become a nightmare. In particular, the final bill will likely include an individual mandate, a weak employer-mandate, middle-class subsidies, and increased insurance regulation.

The sweeping legislation passed in Massachusetts in 2006 set the stage for a dramatic shift in the role of government when it comes to health care. Critics warned at the time that the program would become more bureaucratic, more expensive, and less user friendly. Tanner believes that, three years later, that is exactly the case today.

Tanner notes that the problems with the program are significant and numerous:

• In spite of practically bankrupting the state in order to get maximum participation among residents to get health insurance, 200,000 people remain uninsured.
• The state requires every resident to have health insurance, yet that mandate seems to play only a small role in the number who get covered (evidenced by those who still remain without coverage). The real force behind insurance enrollment is due to the state's generous subsidies for the middle class.
• If cost containment was an objective, Massachusetts has failed miserably because health care costs continue to rise much faster than the national average. In fact, since 2006, total state health care spending has increased by 28 percent. An increase in demand that comes with expanded numbers of those covered always leads to either higher costs or greater shortages (or both).
• Insurance premiums have actually risen by eight to 10 percent annually. This is nearly double the national average. The "lower rates" we hear about in the political debate today are driven by smoke and mirrors and promise to be very short term.
• New regulations and government controls are actually reducing consumer choice and adding to health care costs. The government found itself in a powerful position once Massachusetts passed this measure. With that power the government only continued to expand controls at the expense of consumers.
• Program costs have exploded in spite of significant tax increases. To counter this, the state is considering a freeze on insurance premiums, reductions in reimbursements to providers, and even the possibility of implementing a program that would essentially ration health care. This promises to chase insurance companies and doctors out of the state, which only leads to higher prices and more shortages. A vicious cycle for the people of Massachusetts.
• As a result, there has been a shortage of providers, combined with an increase in demand, leading to increasing waiting times to see a doctor. As physicians find it more profitable to practice elsewhere, this situation will only increase.
  

Anyone seriously considering the health care bill navigating through the Congress should do so with great caution in light of the lessons that we have learned from Massachusetts.

Kevin Price is a syndicated columnist whose articles frequently appear at ChicagoSunTimes.com, Reuters.com, USAToday.com, and other national media. Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at PriceofBusiness.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.

Dark Reasons Behind the Pro-Romney Crowd?

Many are advocating Mitt Romney for John McCain's choice for Vice President and it seems as though he is the one to beat. We are told that it is due to several factors:

* He is handsome and charismatic

* He proved an ability to get elected in very liberal states (he was, after all, governor of Massachusetts)

* He has an enormous amount of money and knows people with money, which will certainly help a campaign that is limping along financially

* he has done an effective job of marketing himself as a Conservative.

I'm not joining the bandwagon for several reasons of my own:

* Romney had been a liberal for years and "matured" on the issues rather late in his career

* In spite of spending as much as ten times more per vote (or more) than Governor Huckabee and Senator McCain, Romney had little to show for it as far as electoral success

* Romney is particularly weak when it comes to bringing in votes in the crucial Southern states, which have proven imperative in getting Republicans elected

What I find interesting is that the people who are promoting Romney are the media, who have made it clear they are largely supporting Obama in November and Conservative Republicans who implied that they wouldn't support McCain if he got the nomination. It appears with Romney on the ticket, they are guaranteeing the Republican Party's demise.

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Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at HoustonBusinessShow.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.