universal healthcare

[Roland]

Interesting choice of state. My states congressional representatives were more unanimous than Massachusetts in opposition to the war, including both our Senators (Wellstone and Dayton). They are one of the states who are generally opposed to Obama-care, as it will probably mess up their own version of universal health coverage.

Our own version of universal health care is in no great shape, either. In fact, the consequences of its enactment have forced the current Governor to begin working on legislation to limit insurance companies ability to raise health care costs - particularly for businesses.

Case in point: the health care provider my company uses (6 employees) has a rate increase of 28.9% as of April 1st (when the policy renews). Before you suggest "shopping around", the company already looked into it: ALL health insurance providers in the state cost approximately the same (post rate increase). The only person who stood a chance at receiving our tax- and business-funded universal health care was me. I missed the quota (300% Federal poverty level) by about a grand. As a consolation prize, I can apply for "catastrophic" health care coverage with a annual deductible of about $4500, after which the insurance kicks in. Oh, it also has a caveat that should I in any way receive other health insurance in the future, I will have to pay back the costs provided to me by MassHealth (as my understanding of it went; I don't have the paperwork available at the moment, but there was some clause about being required to pay back what the provider spent if certain conditions were met).

So, yeah... Massachusetts was and is NOT a model for Federal-level health care. Then again, Massachusetts is not a model for ANYTHING - unless doing everything wrong is the goal. It only took two years to see the problems start to show, and that's just on the funding side of the coin. That's not even touching upon the fact that more and more medical treatment places are turning down MassHealth. So, even if you manage to receive MassHealth, you're limited in where you can exercise it. Same complaints as so many other insurance companies - hospitals, dentists, you name it refuse to do business with certain insurance companies, citing complaints of fraud (on the provider's part), strong-arming, late or failed payment, etc.

It's one thing to provide health care for everyone. It's another to mandate it as a legal requirement. Without fixing the underlying problems, however, it does far more harm than good.

To summarize MY current position:
- My employer's provider is jacking up the rates almost 30% (which the company cannot afford, thus I will have to absorb the increase).
- I don't qualify for MassHealth, at least until I become unemployed (missed it by about $1,000 over the limit)
- If I do not have health insurance that fits the states requirements for 60 or more days, I get penalized at the end of the year (on my tax returns - I am unsure what the penalties are, but denial of refunds and/or additional penalties are likely).
- Even if I did qualify for MassHealth, a sizable portion of the medical service industry would refuse to accept my insurance - thus leading to out-of-pocket expenses.

Yep, it's a great system. I truly love my state.