Is Massachusetts Health Care the Wave of the Future?
Big news from the State of Massachusetts this week:
The Massachusetts Legislature approved a new bill that would require all Mass. residents to buy some form of health insurance or face legal penalties—enforcing medical coverage similarly to auto coverage.
According to a recent Washington Post article (shown here, courtesy of the San Francisco Gate), the proposal would require all Mass. residents to purchase a health plan by July 1 of 2007 or face a monetary fine. Governor Mitt Romney said the bill was fashioned after the state's auto insurance policy and was aimed at covering uninsured residents, as well as using public funds to pay for physician and hospital visits.
"We insist that everyone that drives a car has insurance," Romney stated, "and cars are a lot less expensive than people."
How are people going to buy a health insurance policy if they can't afford to pay for it? I had the same question myself.
According to the Washington Post article, residents will have an expanded list of health insurance options to choose from, which will include new and inexpensive policies—ranging from $250 per month to nearly free—all subsidized by private insurers.
Buying a health insurance policy under the new system would go something like this:
- Uninsured residents earning less than the federal poverty level would be eligible to purchase a state-subsidized plan, with no premium and small co-pays for physician and ER visits.
- Residents earning between that and three times the federal poverty level would be eligible to buy a subsidized plan with premiums set according to their ability to pay. (No maximum premium has been set yet, although legislators don't expect it to top $250.)
- All residents will have to provide details about their health insurance policy on their 2008 state tax returns; those who don't report their health care plan would lose their state tax exemption (worth about $150) and may face additional penalties one and a half times the cost of the cheapest policy they could have purchased.
As easy as it sounds, the Washington Post reports that there are still some kinks to work out, which I think is to be expected with an entirely new health coverage system. I'll be curious to see how this plan works out for Massachusetts residents and if it will catch on in other states. While other states have taken great strides in making health coverage available for nearly all residents (namely Illinois, Hawaii and Maine), the State of Massachusetts is the first state to make health coverage a requirement.
Does this sound like a worthwhile venture? Don't forget to post your opinions via comments and tell us whether you think Massachusetts-esque health coverage is the best idea ever—or a complete waste of time.
We'll post updates here as they come!
