Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Focus!

By

With the signing of the health care bill, we see a few things coming

into focus:

  • There is really nothing Romney won’t do to please the

    Norquistites and the religious right. If he were the guy he claimed to

    be in 2002 — a can do, make it happen, honest-broker, managerial kind

    of pol — he would have treasured the opportunity to take a compromise

    that gave him much of what he wanted. That would have been the decent,

    fair, managerial, <a

    href=”http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/example/fish7513.htm”>”Getting

    to Yes” thing to do. And I would have liked

    to give him credit for it.

    BOO! He’s

    a hack    . We know it. <a

    href=”http://cbs4boston.com/kellerblog/local_blogentry_102184100.html”>Jon

    Keller knows it. (That’s the “smart, witty” Jon Keller to you — he

    says so himself.) <a

    href=”http://www.statehousenews.com/cgi/as_web.exe?pr06.ask+B+Statement%20From#Statement%20From”>Tom

    Reilly knows it. <a

    href=”http://www.devalpatrick.com/press_releases.cfm?ID=78″>Deval

    Patrick knows it. Grover knows it, in his oily little heart. Heck,

    even Elmo knows it.

  • Tom Reilly and Deval Patrick agree on the implications for the

    next governor: It’s the affordability, stupid.

    • <a

      href=”http://www.statehousenews.com/cgi/as_web.exe?pr06.ask+B+Statement%20From#Statement%20From”>Here’s

      Tom: “While the enactment of health care reform is a significant

      accomplishment, the most important work lies ahead. It will take

      experienced leadership to meet the challenge of making health care more

      affordable — so that those who lack health insurance are able to buy

      it, and those who have health insurance get relief from skyrocketing

      costs.”

    • And

      Deval      : “We need a governor who is prepared to roll up his sleeves

      and work to

      create an affordable alternative that will make the ‘individual

      mandate’ work. That is the remaining challenge. If there is not an

      affordable option for middle class families whose employers do not

      provide coverage to buy, the steps toward “universal coverage” will be

      an impossible mandate. And that’s why we so desperately need a change

      in leadership.”

      Nothing from Gabrieli yet.

So, let’s get to work, huh? How do we get an “affordable

alternative”? Well, we could start a couple of places, which we’ve

suggested here before:

  • <a

    href=”http://www.hcfama.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewPage&pageID=488″>Buy

    prescription drugs bulk, or from Canada, however you get the best

    deal. Swear off the <a

    href=”http://bluemassgroup.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=967″>nice

    flights  — excuse me, “pflights” from Pfizer, piss off PhRMA and

    be our hero. Tom, Chris, Deval, just do it.

  • Let’s get real about nutrition, exercise, and smoking. Ounce of

    prevention — heck, let’s have a pound.

  • Let’s have bad-ass, totally independent and well-funded research

    to let us know how to spend health care bucks more efficiently.

  • Expand premium subsidies beyond the $30k income limit. Tax

    cigarettes to pay for it.

  • State reinsurance system takes the extremely expensive cases off

    the hands of insurers in exchange for lower premiums. State uses its

    new “buying power” to drive down those prices.

Now, folks have their differences about what candidate we like, but

let’s just ask ourselves: Do we want Kerry Healey to be in charge

of overseeing these reforms? If there’s one thing that redoubles

one’s drive to elect a Democrat — any of the three — to the State

House, this has gotta be it.

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Comments

  1. a cogent examination of whether or not private insurers have to be essential part of the healthcare delivery system might shed some light on affordable alternatives.

  2. Every suggestion you make dumps control of spending health care dollars into the hands of politicians.  Why?  That’s the last thing we need.  Just look what a great job they did on the Big Dig.

    <

    p>
    How about letting ME worry about MY nutrition, MY exercise and MY smoking, and having the state BUTT OUT.

    <

    p>
    My doctor and I know best how to spend my health care dollar, thank you very much.  Why is it liberals insist women have the wisdom to decide to have or not have an abortion (an invasive medical procedure) but think Jane and Joe Sixpack need help from a government bureaucracy to get annual check ups or layoff the junk food?

    <

    p>
    Expand premium subsidies with the cigarette tax?  Charlie, that money’s been spent long ago.

    <

    p>
    Finally, why is the state using its “buying power” for anything besides cheaper road salt and more ammo for the MA State Police?  Look what influence the Commonwealth’s “buying power” had on reducing costs on anything complicated, like the Big Dig, or maintenance on the Mass Pike.  Zip.

    <

    p>
    We tried universal healthcare under Dukakis, and it blew up.  Tennesee tried it, and it blew up again.  Even a Democratic governor was happy to kill TennCare.  We’re so “special” that OUR plan is better?

    <

    p>
    I think the majority of Massachusetts voters know better than to hand over their healthcare to the mind-numbing hacks on the Hill. 

    <

    p>
    As soon as Patrick, Reilly or Gabrieli start stumping for a single-payer system, they lose the general election no matter who the Republican is.  I hope they’ll follow your advice.

      • The war in Iraq and Medicare are national issues where folks from Connecticut, Kansas and California all have a voice.  Stop using this as a anti-anti-boondoggle arguement, John.  It’s a bogus diversion.

        <

        p>
        The Big Dig, Mass Pike tolls, in-state tuition for illegal aliens and, yes, Massachusetts health care “reform” are state issues, with state tax implications.

        <

        p>
        But you’re right on one thing … I, too, hope I never need Medicare.  Because if I do, I guessing it won’t be there for me.  It’s economics exactly parallels GM’s health plan, and look where they are.

        • let’s just get our priorities straight and put things in perspective, which is something that public spending opponents usually lack.

          <

          p>
          Re the GM red herring, Medicare isn’t in the business of selling crappy cars.

    • Shep (Bruce, is that you?), that’s a lot of assertions, not much evidence for anything you say. The reasons that universal care in MA and TennCare blew up are exactly the reasons we need to control costs here. Hence my suggestions.

      <

      p>
      First off, do you know why everyone wants to buy drugs cheaper from Canada? Why are they cheaper in Canada? Hrm… think hard. Bulk purchasing, Shep. If they can do it there, why not here? Or do you think it your patriotic duty as an American to pay three times as much for your prescription drugs?

      <

      p>
      “That money’s been spent long ago”. What’s that supposed to mean? We don’t have the highest cigarette taxes in the country. Maybe we should. I’m not going to apologize for that.

      <

      p>
      As for you and your doctor deciding: First, nice that you have a doctor. Many folks aren’t so lucky. Hence our desire to reform. Secondly, the whole point is to provide reliable, independent information to the marketplace so that folks like you and your doctor can make informed decisions about care, something which is indeed lacking in our system, leading to skyrocketing costs. See here for more on that.

      <

      p>
      Moreover, why are you so married to the status quo? Health care costs go up 10-14% every year, people lose their coverage all the time (like Friendly’s employees just recently)– and that’s just A-OK with you? What if your taxes went up 10-14% a year — wouldn’t you be outraged? And if you get health benefits, you probably pay more for them than MA taxes. So where’s your rage against this free-market system that’s picking your pocket, killing jobs, and killing people?

  3. for one of the “citizen seats” on the Commonwealth Advisory Council to write the regulations and implementation for healthcare reform in Massachusetts.

    <

    p>
    Umm…anybody know if there are any citizen seats at the table for us?

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