Mitt Romney's health care debacle in Massachusetts lives
on--unfortunately. Observes
Paul Hsieh in the Christian Science Monitor:
The Massachusetts plan thus violates the individual's right to
spend his own money according to his best judgment for his own
benefit. Instead, individuals are forced to choose from a
limited set of insurance plans on terms set by lobbyists and
bureaucrats, rather than those based on a rational assessment
of individual needs.
Because the state-mandated health insurance is so expensive,
the government must also subsidize the costs for lower-income
residents. In response, the state government has cut payments
to doctors and hospitals. With such poor reimbursements,
physicians are increasingly reluctant to take on new patients.
Some patients in western Massachusetts must wait more than a
year for a routine physical exam. Waiting times for specialists
in Boston are longer than in comparable cities in other states
and have gotten worse. Some desperate patients have even
resorted to "group appointments" where the doctor sees several
patients at once (without the privacy necessary to allow the
physician to remove the patient's clothing and perform a proper
physical exam). These patients all have "coverage," but that's
not the same as actual medical care.
The Massachusetts plan is also breaking the state budget. Since
2006, health insurance costs in Massachusetts have risen nearly
twice as fast as the national average. The state expects to
spend $595 million more in 2009 on its health insurance program
than it did in 2006, a 42 percent increase. Those higher health
costs help explain why the state faced a $5 billion budget gap
this summer. To help close it, lawmakers raised taxes sharply.
The failure of the Romney plan most obviously demonstrates what
Congress should not do. Alas, Sen. Max Baucus's
so-called centrist alternative would end up almost as ruinous as
a more formal government take-over of health care.
But the mess left by the former governor, and his continuing
defense of his handiwork, also raises questions
about Romney's presumed presidential bid in 2012. If
this is his vision of success, just what would President Mitt
Romney do once the votes were counted and he was in office?
