Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Comments

  1. I am glad that MA is leading the way with comprehensive health care insurance but the penalties on small buisness will hurt our economy, drive more companies out of the state to NH and elsewhere, and forcing people to buy insurance with stiff penalties is also a very bad idea, especially if the state is forced to cover more people.

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    My alternative solution:

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    State creates a real universal health care plan with bare minimum coverage while allowing private companies to still compete. We pass tort reform to limit medical malpractice suits that will lower costs and attract more HMOs to the state

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    Essentially its a two tier style of health coverage with some tort reform that would appeal to most people on the po,litical spectrum.

    • I’m certainly not going to defend the merits of the current bill except to say that it’s probably better than before. And if it brings down premiums for businesses that do give benefits to their workers, that’s good, attractive, and pro-growth.

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      I didn’t mention tort reform in my list of cost-saving actions before, but I do think it matters. A great deal of the cost has to be the result of practicing “defensive medicine”; it doesn’t seem to me that we’ve struck the right balance in this country between ensuring good care and limiting wasteful procedures.

  2. I have a small, but growing business.

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    My hope was to hire, as the workload outgrew my ability to efficienty produce and deliver product.

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    The onerous obligations that this state imposes on small businesses, especially this most recent fiasco, have caused me to rethink the whole equation.

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    I now outsource to out of state vendors wherever feasible.

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    This doesn’t solve all of my problems, but with some creative sub-contracting, I can probably still meet my goals.

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    Too bad, but this seems to be the prevailing sentiment of most of my peers in the small business community.

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    Until we get some adults to mind the store on The Hill, our state will continue to be seen as wanting, not as a model, for the rest of the country.

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