'So Called Universal Health Care"

In 2006, Massachusetts made history when it became the first state to mandate health care coverage for all of its residents.
Since the passage of this landmark bill, nearly 300,000 individuals have obtained health insurance, and use of the state’s free care pool has declined by 16 percent. Payments to hospitals and health centers for treating the uninsured, which totaled $680 million in fiscal year 2007, are projected to fall to $438 million this year, as more people sign up for coverage.
By most measures, the new law has been a success. As with all major undertakings, however, the transition to universal health care in Massachusetts has not been without a few bumps in the road.
Small businesses, for example, have seen huge premium increases each year and are now paying an additional $175 million annually under the new health care law. Unless this problem is addressed, the private sector’s ability to continue to insure its employees will be put at serious risk.
From the beginning, critics and skeptics have warned that spiraling costs could undermine this historic undertaking and ultimately lead to its failure. This year, $618 million is being spent on Commonwealth Care, the state program that subsidizes health insurance for low-income residents, but Governor Patrick has allocated $869 million for this program in his fiscal year 2009 budget, an increase of more than 40 percent.
Obviously, annual cost increases of this magnitude cannot continue without universal health care becoming unsustainable. Fortunately, Senate President Therese Murray is determined not to see that happen.
Last week, Sen. Murray put forth a plan to help rein in costs and ensure that the state’s experiment with universal health care will succeed and not collapse under its own costs. Her bill — known as An Act to Promote Cost Containment, Transparency and Efficiency in the Delivery of Quality Health Care — contains a series of reforms she says will “modernize the health care system, reduce waste and inefficiencies, and improve health care quality for every citizen of the Commonwealth.”
Here are just a few of the provisions contained in the bill:
Cost transparency: To get a handle on rising health care costs, the bill calls for the Health Care Cost and Quality Council to convene annual public hearings with health care providers. Maintaining an ongoing dialogue will help identify what factors are driving costs and allow all parties to work together to reduce those costs.
The bill also establishes a special commission to review how health insurers manage their reserves and surpluses, and requires hospitals and insurance companies to fully disclose all costs passed on to consumers. If an insurer asks for a rate increase of more than 7 percent, the Division of Insurance and the Attorney General would launch a public review process, taking a close look at the company’s administrative costs and executive compensation packages to determine if the requested increase is justified.