[4 updates at the bottom of this post as of 8:08am CST]
If ObamaCare somehow passes through Congress and signed by President Obama, what can Americans look forward to?
Well the Republican Party’s very own potential presidential candidate Mitt Romney did just that as governor of Massachusetts, passing universal health coverage for the entire state.
The results are mixed at best, and scary at worst.
Here are some highlights from the op-ed titled Romneycare model a dud in the Boston Herald by Michael Graham where Massachusetts is “already glowing in the radioactive haze of Romneycare, aka “ObamaCare: The Beta Version.” [emphases mine]:
Shouldn’t Obama have been bragging yesterday about bringing the benefits of Bay State reform to all of America?
As we prepare to wander into this coming nuclear winter of hyper-partisan politics – one in which we’re almost certain 
to see widespread political fatalities among congressional Democrats – I have to ask: If bringing Massachusetts-style “universal coverage” to America is worth this terrible price, why doesn’t Obama at least mention us once in awhile?
Maybe he thinks of us as the Manhattan Project of medical insurance reform. Too top secret to discuss. More likely, it has something to do with the nightmare results of this government-run debacle. Here are a few “highlights” of the current status of the Obamacare experiment in Massachusetts:
It’s exploding the budget: Our “universal” health insurance scheme is already $47 million over budget [imagine it in trillions for American tax-payers] for 2010. Romneycare will cost taxpayers more than $900 million next year alone.
It’s killing us on costs: Average Massachusetts premiums are the highest in the nation and rising. We also spend 27 percent more on health care services, per capita, than the national average. Those costs, contrary to what we were promised, have been going up faster here than nearly everywhere else.
It’s creating bizarre marketplace mutations: In Massachusetts, ObamaCare 1.0 is such a mess our governor is talking about imposing draconian price controls. He’s even suggested going to “capitation […keep reading, it’s worse than you think…],” a system where doctors get a fixed amount of money per patient – and then that’s it. Which means it would become in your doctor’s financial interest never to see you again.
The percentage of uninsured Bay State residents has gone from around 6 percent to around 3 percent.
In other words, it’s a dud.
And now Obama is preparing to drop the Big One on bipartisanship and turn Congress into a political hot zone for the remainder of his presidency, in order to pass a similar plan.
The damage Obamacare would do to the current health care system – where 85 percent of Americans are happy with their health care, by the way – could be so great, the only institution big enough to repair it would be the government. The fact that the government inflicted that damage would be a moot point [now that is scary!].
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For the complete op-ed by Michael Graham titled, Romneycare model a dud, in the Boston Herald click here.
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Update I: The slippery slope theory kicks in “if” ObamaCare kicks in then we are all comrades now in the United Socialist States of America. Jeffrey T. Kuhner of the Washington Times explains here.
Update II: For the Wikipedia explanation of capitation click here.
Update III: The growing dependence on government will ruin this country. Bill Beach of the Heritage Foundation explains here.
Update IV: Politico believes there are ten votes that will determine the future of ObamaCare, they explain here.
Clearly, the program only failed because it wasn’t properly funded. The rich need to pay their share to ensure everybody has access to health care. Your opposition to health care reform is really a manifestation of your deep-seeded hatred of the poor and fear of those who are not like you. It is shameful for you to use abortion as a smokescreen for your racism.
//There. Just saved a few folks some time this morning.
Steve,
That is a failure of imagination.
All problems cannot be solved by throwing more money at it.
Massachusetts is a model of what will happen to America.
Steve, you do deadpan humor better than I do it! You parodied the arguments of the Left to perfection. Well done!
Steve,
I’m enjoying my sucker-pie right now.
Good one!
🙂
Yes, but Steve forgot to mention fascism. A fatal flaw in any real argument
I don;t know enough about Mass to comment.
However, if public options are doomed to fail, how come they seem to do OK in Canada and Europe and have done for decades?
RuariJM,
Canada and Europe have been subsidized by American military power for the past fifty years. If those ungrateful countries had to spend money on their own military, they wouldn’t have enough money for universal health care. The only our country could afford to ensure health care for all is to do what those countries do – gut our military spending and shut down the one trillion dollar budget.
Yeah, right! Who else is going to stop Western Civilization from succumbing to the jihadists, if not the American military?
// I jest. 🙂
“universal” health insurance scheme is already $47 million over budget
Thanks to greater-than-expected enrollment. It’s a good thing.
Romneycare will cost taxpayers more than $900 million next year alone.
So what’s an acceptable price tag? The VA budget is $57 billion. Is that too much?
Besides, most of the $900 million was already being spent to reimburse hospitals for treating the uninsured. The shortfall is $100 million.
The choice is between insuring the uninsured, reimbursing hospitals for treating the uninsured, making hospitals suffer the losses from treating the uninsured, or allowing hospitals to turn away the uninsured. Pick one.
Average Massachusetts premiums are the highest in the nation and rising. We also spend 27 percent more on health care services, per capita, than the national average.
It was probably already the highest before the reform. I do know for a fact that since the reform, the rate of increase has declined both compared to the past and compared to other states. This is consistent with the CBO report which predicts lower costs offset by higher premiums for more comprehensive plans (a net increase in premiums but a decrease in cost). The Massachusetts plan apparently lowered costs more than it increased the price of premiums.
In Massachusetts, ObamaCare 1.0 is such a mess our governor is talking about imposing draconian price controls.
The federal government will deal with a larger deficit the way it always does, borrowing. If the federal government was going to impose price controls, it would’ve done so already to save money on Medicare/Medicaid which dwarfs ObamaCare.
uninsured Bay State residents has gone from around 6 percent to around 3 percent.
That’s hundreds of thousands of people. That’s great news! A federal program will help millions!
In conclusion, the Massachusetts plan doesn’t defy logic and works largely as it’s expected to work. Nobody expected it to be free.
If you oppose ObamaCare, offer an alternative. The way I see it if you take out the public option and include the Stupak Amendment, you have an acceptable plan. Sure, HSA’s would be preferable but if that’s not an option, insurance is still better than nothing.
In all seriousness, the rich have no greater right to health care than the poor. The rich are rich not for their own sake, but for the sake of the poor. To those whom much is given, much will be expected.
Now, having said that, I do not approve of national taxes and national health care schemes. State taxes and state health care schemes . . . I’d have to think about.
RuariJM,
That would explain why the premiere of Newfoundland decided to have surgery in the US and not Canada.
As well as many more Canadians crossing our border for superior and sorely needed doctors visits.
Remember, dead patients don’t complain while waiting in line for a transplant.
That’s why you don’t hear much of them complaining, but there are complaints and it is ugly.
I hope Republicans will run attractive candidates for every open House and Senate seat who promise to repeal it. If this Obama/Piglosi/Reid abomination can be crammed down our throats via the nuclear option, why can’t it be repealed via nuclear option once all the Marxist-Alinskyite dirt bags have been voted out of Congress this November? By the grace of God there will be enough of a conservative flip to override ObaMao’s veto.