Not because of those that have their own health insurance, but because of the ones on the states SCHIP plan. $147 million by the end of the fiscal year. But that won’t deter them, just look at their reactions:
Even if signups slow, the program will probably still be over budget – a victim of its own success – because the state has already enrolled nearly as many people as expected for the fiscal year.
“It’s a good problem to have – people are getting insured and hopefully getting care,” said state Senator Richard T. Moore, cochairman of the Legislature’s Health Care Financing Committee. “But any shortfall is a big deal.”
Wow, it sure is a good problem to have (snark alert)! They haven’t even enrolled the amount that was expected. Let’s see, a victim of it’s own success? How will they fund it? I know, raise the taxes even higher!
The connector began enrolling people in October 2006 and set a goal of 136,000 by June 30, 2008.
more stories like thisOutreach has resulted in more than 133,000 people signing up. If enrollment reaches the high estimate of 178,280 by June 30, Holland said, the state cost could hit $619 million.
Also driving up the cost was a decision by the connector last winter to eliminate premiums for thousands more people than originally planned, in an effort to make insurance more affordable.
The enrollment boom “is a sign of success, not failure,” said John McDonough, executive director of the advocacy group Health Care for All. “The sky is not falling. There’s a budget challenge.”
Free is always affordable when you aren’t footing the bill. Again, the above facts and figures are for MA-SCHIP. Let’s get into Medicaid:
Massachusetts has also signed up 55,000 additional adults and children for Medicaid and expanded options for private, unsubsidized insurance.
And budget challenges always call for higher taxes..I’ll leave you with this:
“This is one of many warning signs, especially in tandem with the projected state budget deficit and the skyrocketing cost of healthcare in the state,” said Alan Sager, professor of health policy and management at the Boston University School of Public Health. “The [healthcare] law is very shaky on the revenue side.”
Doomed to failure, just like a national healthcare plan would be…
just like So-cial Security…
just like Medicare…
Why are weattempting the already proven-to-fail ideas of social-ism?
There is a bit of information that the socialized medicine crowd needs to learn. Medicare/medicaid has announced that by their estimates, the operating cost for a medical office has risen approximately 18 percent over the last 6 years. That is the last time that they raised their payments to Doctors for services rendered. With that information in hand, they have announced a plan to reduce payments by 40% over the next 9 years. The result will be that medicare/medicaid intends to, in 9 years, be paying 40% less for the covered services than than they did 6 years ago. For those who are lacking in math skills, that means that Medicaid/medicare is planning on paying 40% less for services in 2016 than they did in 2001. Does any of the socialized medicine crowd believe that doctors will continue to provide services once their pay is cut by 40%? Which when combined with inflation will result in a net loss in pay of over 60%. BTW this information is from a flyer being distributed by the AMA. Hardly a conservative Republican organization. Perhaps we should insist on cutting Congress’s pay by 60%. They certainly are not earning their $165k+ paychecks.
I heard a really stupid person say that government funded universal health coverage wouldn’t effect him because he has really good coverage from his employer. What he fails to understand is that once the government starts providing health coverage (It’s not HEALTH CARE, it’s health insurance) his employer will have a huge incentive to drop the company plan. WHY? Because the company will be paying for the universal plan through taxes, so there won’t be the money available to pay for the private plan he now enjoys. The moron will be voting himself a substandard plan and he’s too stupid to realize it.