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The Massachusetts Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector, which is overseeing the implementation of Romney's plan, has decided how much poor people should pay for their health insurance. For some, it could be as much as 6.6% of their income. Naturally, that has the so-called poverty advocates up in arms:

John McDonough, executive director of Health Care For All, said, "The concern is that lots and lots of people under 300% of the poverty level are not walking around with extra money in their pockets."

"Not only are they not walking around with extra money, they are walking around under the crushing burden of debt. They're living paycheck to paycheck."

This, of course, will lead to more pressure for more taxpayer funds for health insurance for the poor.

During all of the debate over health insurance, I never heard anyone talk about the effect of government subsidies. If government's subsidize something like a person's health insurance, then demand for it will increase. When demand increases, well, you know what happens to the price.

As I noted before, it is at least a bit ironic that Romney intended this reform to make insurance more affordable.

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Health Care