---
I got quite the chuckle from hearing how well the Massachusetts health care plan - a carbon copy of what we're all going to be saddled with - is working out.
It seems the NON-PROFIT insurance companies needed to raise their rates. They have projected that without these rate increases, it will cost them $100 million in losses over the next 8 months.
A judge denied their request. They are being required by law to become insolvent.
I looked around the Internet for stories on this, and was able to find a few. The ones in the major news outlets (NPR, NY Times , Boston Globe) all managed to forget to include that the insurance companies in Massachusetts are NON-PROFIT. There are no money-grubbing companies working to make their 2-7% profits. No siree, they don't make any profit.
Only the Boston Herald managed to mention their non-profit status -
Six nonprofit insurers - Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Tufts Health Plan, Fallon Community Health Plan, Health New England, and Neighborhood Health Plan - filed suit.Non-profits are allowed to maintain an emergency fund of sorts to cover unexpected expenses. Clearly, this will be sucked dry by the state and the courts. Then what?
They said charging last year’s rates for this year’s health care would trigger multimillion-dollar losses.
Perhaps the state will take over as the SINGLE PAYER for health insurance. Hmm, I wonder if that's the plan with ObamaCare as well. Ya think?
One tongue-in-cheek question: If Mass. has non-profit insurance companies, how can the costs of insurance be going up? The Administration told us point-blank that the greedy insurance companies were to blame for the staggering rise in premium.
Wow, I guess they were wrong. Go figure...
Accept The Challenge
ObamaCare is here to stay in some way, shape or form. We will pay, period.
With Mass., once the state runs out of money to run the plan, the feds will likely provide a bailout, which we'll all get to pay for. When the federal plan kicks in, and the money runs out, we'll start seeing the rationing of services as has been the rule with every single other state or country that has
Get healthy, folks, while you still can do so.
As I heard on the radio this morning - from Margaret Thatcher: "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money."
---
Please click our advertiser links. They pay us so you don't have to. A click a day is all we ask!
Copyright 2010 Bison Risk Management Associates. All rights reserved. You are encouraged to repost this information so long as it is credited to Bison Risk Management Associates. www.BisonRMA.com
4 comments:
More Mass news -- check this out:
http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/senate/186/st02pdf/st02170.pdf
This is under consideration, but has not yet been passed:
"Every health care provider licensed in the commonwealth which provides covered services to a person covered under "Affordable Health Plans" must provide such service to any such person, as a condition of their licensure, and must accept payment at the lowest of the statutory reimbursement rate, an amount equal to the actuarial equivalent of the statutory reimbursement rate, or the applicable contract rate with the carrier for the carrier’s product offering with the lowest level benefit plan available to the general public within the Connector, other than the young adult plan, and may not balance bill such person for any amount in excess of the amount paid by the carrier pursuant to this section, other than applicable co-payments, co-insurance and deductibles."
Bottom line, providers -- as a condition of being licensed -- must accept the state-approved reimbursement rates. I wonder what they will do when doctors flee the state rather than work for a loss? Confiscatory "exit taxes" for daring to leave and abandon their social duty?
Cheers,
Chris from AK
http://armaborealis.blogspot.com/
Chris, Mass will see what CA has seen - businesses fleeing the state, and people following them. It will start with the docs leaving, then PA's, nurses, etc.
With the doctors, it might be a moot point, in that ObamaCare will likely include similar provisions at some point down the line. As we've seen with Medicare, doctors are dropping from the program in droves because of the low reimbursement rates and all of the headaches.
That will have to be stopped.
Socialism fails when we run out of other people's money to use to pay for what we want for free. Obama care is going to be the most expensive and least effective "free" health care in the world.
No doubt. Socialism has NEVER worked. Ever. I have no idea why the socialists in our government would want to participate in an economic structure that is guaranteed to fail.
Post a Comment