Money Woes Sink California Health Insurance Plan
Earlier this week, California’s bid to provide universal health insurance coverage fell in a lopsided legislative committee vote. Both Republicans and Democrats voted against the plan. Republicans nixed it for philosophical reasons. Democrats thought the plan was not well thought out. Most importantly, both sides were very concerned about the numbers. According to the New York Times:
“[Governor Arnold] Schwarzenegger’s proposal was modeled largely on a Massachusetts plan, which requires individuals to have insurance, prohibits insurers from denying coverage on the basis of age or health, and uses government subsidies to make insurance affordable for low-income workers.
But last Wednesday, as the California Senate committee heard testimony on the bill, Massachusetts announced that spending on its health care plan would increase by $400 million in 2008, a cost expected to be borne largely by taxpayers.”
The Massachusetts insurance scheme is also facing financial trouble, with the state moving to cut providers’ reimbursement because of high enrollment rates.
All of this indicates that the biggest barrier to universal health coverage – whether one favors individual mandates or not – continues to be cost. With medical inflation steadily increasing, can any plan overcome the economic gauntlet?
Fortunately, there are many efforts underway to stem costs, including value-based insurance design and price transparency. However, these initiatives have not yet gained widespread acceptance. If we don’t successfully tackle the cost issue, any comprehensive plan to increase coverage may be dead in the water.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:58 am
No matter how much BS is piled up by the advocates of “universal” health care, the goals of unlimited access and reduced cost are mutually exclusive. You can have one or the other, but you can’t have both.
February 20th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
It would be interesting to see what the new taxes would look like. I already pay enough taxes. If American people took better care of themselves with diet and exercise then just imagine how much money we would have to work with.