Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Fiscal crisis could be–and should be–a real health reform opportunity

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Van Faasen’s the same guy that MA Health Care For All gave their “Lifetime Leadership” award to a year or so ago! Perhaps the AG can get Bill to give the state some of those $19Mil dollars that were collected as health insurance premium payments. Gosh, things like this make a thinking person wonder if MA BCBS should even be a taxpayer subsidized (tax-exempt) public charity!!

For worthy posts of note on this health spending topic see

Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review

Oct 15, 2008 Demystifying U.S. Health Care Spending–Some Surprising Information…The Cost of the Massachusetts Health Insurance Law…

http://www.healthpolicyandmark…

and

A Progressive Plan for Health Care, Campaign for America’s Future, Sept 30 2008

   Long before anyone had been nominated or elected, the voters of 2008 had gotten one message across loud and clear: Fix our dysfunctional health care system! For obvious reasons (and big reasons that aren’t so obvious), the leaders of 2009 must heed that call.

America’s health care system is in meltdown. More than 45.7 million of us have no health insurance. But even those with good insurance face rising costs and a growing risk of losing the protection they have. Every year, tens of millions of Americans go uninsured for long periods – when a layoff, a divorce, or illness itself disrupts their ability to get or pay for coverage… http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-…

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Comments

  1. From Ezra

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    This surprising comment by Peter Orszag, director of the Congressional Budget Office, has passed by with little comment, but it’s actually tremendously important:

    While I’m on the topic of health care, I’d like to make a point related to the current turmoil in financial markets. Many observers have noted that addressing the problems in financial markets and the risks to the economy may displace health care reform on the policy agenda – and that may well be the case for some period of time….

    …Although it may not seem immediately relevant given our current difficulties, it will be crucial to address the nation’s looming fiscal gap – which is driven primarily by rising health care costs – as the economy eventually recovers from this current downturn. Indeed, our ability to address our current economic difficulties (through both financial market interventions and potential additional fiscal stimulus) would be severely impaired if investors were not so willing to invest substantial sums in Treasury securities without charging much higher interest rates. That willingness reflects the (currently accurate) view among investors that Treasury securities are extremely safe investments. …

    He is saying, in other words, that absent significant reform, our health care system will threaten the solvency and financial stability of the government itself. …

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