In 2006, [Massachusetts] lawmakers seeking to broaden health coverage made it illegal to be uninsured. It works like this: Employers have to offer you a health plan. If you are jobless or don’t like your employer’s plan, you must buy your own. If you don’t get one, you pay a stiff fine. This strategy—known as an employer and individual “mandate”—forms the backbone of the national health reform bills now making their way through Congress.
On paper, the experiment was a resounding success. According to an Urban Institute estimate, the number of uninsured residents quickly fell from 13 percent to 7 percent following the law’s passage.And yet, something strange happened. Despite having health insurance, roughly one in 10 state residents still failed to fill prescriptions, ended up with unpaid medical bills, or skipped needed medical care for financial reasons. Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent to insure more Massachusetts citizens, but many people still weren’t getting necessary care. What happened?
Assume you’re looking to buy insurance. The state has a handy Web site where you can find the cheapest plan. For a young family of four, that plan costs roughly $9,500 per year, which doesn’t include a minimum annual deductible of $3,500 before many benefits kick in. (The state helps cover some of the premiums for those who make very little money, but many still have to pay the other fees.) And if anyone is hospitalized or needs a lot of specialized care, you also pay 20 percent of that bill. In this relatively cheap plan, the family can be liable for an extra $10,000 per year of medical costs. This sort of “high deductible” health plan is clearly structured to discourage medical care.
The article goes on to detail the effects of the program, parts of which may end up in Obama’s plan. The author’s conclusion?
The expensive Massachusetts plan is not well-designed to systematically improve anyone’s health. Instead, it’s a superficial effort to clear the uninsured from the books and then clumsily limit further costs by discouraging care.
#163, hate the fact that many of us want to make sure our fellow Americans are taken care of
I don’t hate that fact at all.
I hate the fact you want to force me to do it.
I have nothing but respect for anybody who chooses to help someone. I admire it in fact.
I detest those who think it is their responsibility to force someone else to do so.
Of course, you don’t understand that because you would rather whine about your lot in life.
You never did tell me how much time you’ve donated to worthy causes in the last year.
Yes, LL, we’ve heard all the standard libertarian bullsh*t before. Yawn. Spare us. You want all the benefits of a government without paying for them. Your arguments have been demolished countless times before by people much smarter than me. So run along.
#159, Fusion,
“That is in reference to Liberty Loser, brm, Sea Lawyer, and maybe some others thinking that if your boss provides you with something you shouldn’t have to pay for the personal use of it.”
You should really stop making up things that I have not said.
#166, Just because someone smart spoke out against it, doesn’t make it so.
Obama is smart and look how much he’s lied.
So are you going to pull a fusion and avoid the question?
How much time P?
I was thinking ‘great, some references to my posts’ and thinking about how I might answer some substantive criticism but I keep rethinking the same comments as those I’ve already made. Like this comment “So all of the crap about it couldn’t possibly work. Or its communism is absurd. Unless you are suggesting Germany, Uk, Ireland, Switzerland + Spain are all communist…” That’s not what I said. I said that if you extend the policies to their fullest, what you’re really asking for is a profitless society. In other words, what if all the opposition were suddenly gone tomorrow and the left could simply create the legislation that it wants without constraint. Wouldn’t they really just make healthcare free for everyone?
# 166 Phydeau said, “You want all the benefits of a government without paying for them.”
We actually only want the benefits of what our gov’t is supposed to give, not crap it shouldn’t be doing. We are quite willing to pay for that. BTW – it used to be paid for primarily via import duties…
#170, Haven’t I said that? I swear I said that. Did you hear me say that?
#160, Liberty Poser,
It is not my duty to advise anyone of their legal obligations. It would appear that you have been and will knowingly continue to avoid paying your taxes.
#172, It is not my duty to advise anyone of their legal obligations.
Ah, so you haven’t told them.
tsk, tsk. Bad Liberal.
Yes, the libertarian disease is strong in this thread. 🙁
#173, Liberty Poser,
Typical Liebertarian. Stay out of your business but interfere in others.
#175, Do you consider it the law that someone should pay their taxes?
If so, then you should report them if they aren’t paying their taxes. It’s the law to report any known law breakers.
If you don’t then you are also breaking the law. And how many times have you said that if it’s the law of the land, everybody should abide by it?
However, if you don’t consider it the law you should pay your taxes (there is ample evidence to support that theory), then you are ok.
fusion, I’m doing nothing but pointing out your hypocrisy.
You want the law to apply to everyone except yourself. It’s easier to stand on your pedestal and preach the virtues of altruism than it is to actually put them into practice.
Personally, I couldn’t give a rat’s ass if they are paying their taxes or not. I applaud you for your civil disobedience. Obviously you are a closet Libertarian. It’s ok. You don’t have to feel guilty about it.
# 171 LibertyLover said, “#170, Haven’t I said that? I swear I said that. Did you hear me say that?”
You are communicating to people who don’t fit the following ideal:
“The most effectual means of preventing [the perversion of power into tyranny are] to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large, and more especially to give them knowledge of those facts which history exhibits, that possessed thereby of the experience of other ages and countries, they may be enabled to know ambition under all its shapes, and prompt to exert their natural powers to defeat its purposes.” –Thomas Jefferson:
#175,
Disease? No.
Awakening? Yes. People are fed up with their tax money going to crap they aren’t happy with. When over 75% of the people told the reps/sens to NOT vote for it and are then ignored, well, it’s either torches and pitchforks or a new attitude about government.
And it’s just not here. I am seeing more and more Libertarian bumper stickers on the road. It’s going to be interesting electiona in 2010/12.
#176, Liberty Poser,
It’s the law to report any known law breakers.
Bullshit. Just more of the right wing nuts making up shit again.
I couldn’t give a rat’s ass if they are paying their taxes or not.
But by your standard, you admit breaking the law. I guess that makes you the hypocrite.
#178, Liberty Poser,
I am seeing more and more Libertarian bumper stickers on the road.
And again the right wing will be split allowing the Democrats to win handily.
I do have to comment though, I see a lot more outrageous bumper stickers coming close to advocating armed rebellion. It seems the right wing nuts can’t handle democracy.
#179,
Willful failure to pay your taxes is a felony. If you know you have to pay your taxes, and you don’t, you are committing a felony.
If you attempt to help someone not pay their taxes, you are guilty of Misprison.
Granted, it is a fine line between “helping” someone avoid a tax and just “turning a blind eye.”
However, as a self-proclaimed liberal, you should be encouraging your friends to pay their fair share.
#180, Hey! That’s almost what King George said.
# 180 sac said, “I see a lot more outrageous bumper stickers coming close to advocating armed rebellion. It seems the right wing nuts can’t handle democracy.”
Which is just following the advice of the Founding Fathers in the event that the gov’t far exceeded its limits as found in the constitution.
#176, Liberty Loser,
If so, then you should report them if they aren’t paying their taxes. It’s the law to report any known law breakers.
I am not responsible for my friends taxes. They are one of the most private things in our society. Why, I don’t really know.
I can just picture you advising others on how they should pay their taxes.
I think sac (#179) got it right. You are a hypocrite.
#184, sac and fusion are the same person. Don’t deny it.
Similar, but slightly different topic from our wonderful medical system up north. As I’ve said in the past, giving away existing checks and balances to a bureaucracy is a scary thought.
*********
Manitoba chiefs angered by delay in sanitizers
Updated Tue. Jun. 23 2009 11:53 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
First Nations leaders in Manitoba have slammed federal health officials, after a report said Health Canada delayed shipping hand sanitizers to reserves because the products contained alcohol.
***********
It’s a lengthy article, but ya all get the gist of where it’s heading.
I suspect the reason we don’t hear more of these stories is NOT because the stories don’t exist, but rather that it would be just as uncommon to subscribe to a Canadian newspaper for the sole purpose of gathering local information as it would for a local editor USA to include it in his paper.