Another reason to approach the recent Massachusetts health care reforms with great caution. The Boston Globe reports:
Enrollment in the state's new subsidized health plan is growing so quickly that the state could face a funding gap as large as $147 million by the end of the fiscal year, according to a state projection....
Financial pressures will grow for fiscal 2009, which begins July 1, [2008,] since insurers who participate in the subsidized program are expected to ask for significantly higher payments from the state. In addition, there is uncertainty about how much the federal government will contribute toward the total cost....
The state budgeted $472 million this fiscal year for the subsidized program, based on enrollment estimates made last winter. The program, called Commonwealth Care, provides comprehensive insurance to people without access to work-based coverage who earn less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $31,000 for an individual. The state money pays the full premium for the lowest-income residents and subsidizes the rest. Members are responsible for small copayments.
The connector began enrolling people in October 2006 and set a goal of 136,000 by June 30, 2008....
Also driving up the cost was a decision by the connector last winter to eliminate premiums for thousands more people than originally planned, in an effort to make insurance more affordable....
More than once, we've stressed that the Massachusetts health care reforms need to be carefully watched and considered, not prematurely imitated by other states, like Washington. It is no accident that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is not emphasizing these reforms in his presidential campaign. If they were an unqualified success, you can bet that Romney would be trumpeting from the rooftops that the Massachusetts program is the solution to all of America's health care woes. Instead, Romney takes great care to emphasize that he would not attempt to force the Massachusetts plan on other states. Romney is smart enough to understand that the Massachusetts program is no panacea. Instead, it is a work-in-progress - an interesting work-in-progress, at that, but still a program with a lot of glitches.
