Now I am going to need the insurance, because I'm feeling sick (and it ain't swine flu).
"US health overhaul could penalize Mass.; State’s system provides higher subsidies than some plans Congress is weighing" by Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff | November 1, 2009
WASHINGTON - Massachusetts’ landmark 2006 health care overhaul law provided the model for the national legislation now under construction in Congress. Now state officials are working to make sure the federal proposals don’t undermine the state’s pioneering system - and that Massachusetts isn’t penalized financially for being first.
You know, it AIN'T PERFECT but IT IS OURS!!!
Why don't you guys just LEAVE US ALONE!?!?
Under some versions of the federal legislation, Massachusetts could face pressure to reduce the subsidies it now provides to low- and middle-income residents who get insurance under the state system, a study commissioned by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation found. That is because the proposed federal subsidies are less generous....
If such a bill passes, Massachusetts could be forced to choose between scaling back sharply to match the federal payment levels, jockeying for a special deal from the federal government, or dipping even more deeply into state taxpayer dollars to make up the gap.
The Senate Finance Committee bill also could end the Massachusetts Health Insurance Connector Authority’s ability to aggressively bargain with insurers on behalf of consumers and taxpayers, turning it into a toothless agency - little more than a Yellow Pages listing of insurers. State officials say that could increase the costs of subsidized insurance significantly.
Why don't you KEEP YOUR BIG NOSE OUT, Max!
None of these risks for the state are written in stone, as the various versions of the federal legislation compete for votes. And some of the proposals could benefit the state....
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Aides to the state’s congressional delegation noted that Massachusetts is already digging deep into its own accounts to help fund its health care system. The state will spend roughly $350 million more in 2010 than it was paying in 2006 to maintain its health care system, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. Nothing in the federal legislation would prohibit states from using their own money to go beyond the federal standards, according to the aides’ analysis, and that could help make up the difference....
That's because we don't have a partner.
How queer in a same-sex-marriage state.
But the bottom line for Massachusetts is hard to quantify because the state has developed its system through a special arrangement with the federal government, known as a Medicaid “waiver,’’ outside of the regular Medicaid rules. That makes it impossible to calculate exactly how much Massachusetts would gain or lose overall. Further complicating the picture, the current Massachusetts waiver expires in 2011, two years before much of the new federal law would take effect, so it would have to be renegotiated during an awkward interim period....
“The House bill is a good deal for Massachusetts, period,’’ said US Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Malden, an influential member of one of the main House committees in charge of the health care bill. “If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t support it.’’
PFFFFFFFFFTTTT!
The jury is still out on the Senate side. John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat and member of the Senate Finance Committee, is leading a group of senators....
The GOD HELP THEM ALL!!!!
Related: Captain on the Bridge
I have all the confidence in the world in him, don't you?
Kerry, in a letter to Senate leaders, Senator Paul Kirk, and a dozen other senators, wrote:
“This investment is one our states are proud of, and was the right thing to do, but now, our constituents’ tax dollars will not only go to sustaining our own state programs, but will also go to states around the country that have consistently ignored the health care needs of their low-income residents, without any acknowledgement of our original investment. This is unacceptable.’’
What? Can YOU FIGURE out that GIBBERISH, readers?
He's just like he was in 2004!
--more--"
Also see:
- The Massachusetts Model: Working Or Not?
- The Massachusetts Model: Comes At a Premium
- The Massachusetts Model: Screwing Small Business
- The Massachusetts Model: Going Out of Business
- The Massachusetts Model: Crazy Coverage
- The Massachusetts Model: Immigrant Insult
- The Massachusetts Model: Profit and the Paycheck
- The Massachusetts Model: Doctors' Diet
- The Massachusetts Model: By the Numbers
- The Massachusetts Model: Treasurer's Assessment
- The Massachusetts Model: Care-Keeping Costs
- The Massachusetts Model: Mass. Hospitality
- The Massachusetts Model: Lessons Learned
- The Massachusetts Model: Non-Compliant Complacency
- The Massachusetts Model: Office Visit
