The ObamaCare beta is happening right now in MA

So, how is RomneyCare doing these days?

The relentlessly rising cost of health insurance is prompting some small Massachusetts companies to drop coverage for their workers and encourage them to sign up for state-subsidized care instead, a trend that, some analysts say, could eventually weigh heavily on the state’s already-stressed budget.

Since April 1, the date many insurance contracts are renewed for small businesses, the owners of about 90 small companies terminated their insurance plans with Braintree-based broker Jeff Rich and indicated in a follow-up survey that they were relying on publicly-funded insurance for their employees.

In Sandwich, business consultant Bill Fields said he has been hired by small businesses to enroll about 400 workers in state-subsidized care since April, because the company owners said they could no longer afford to provide coverage. Fields said that is by far the largest number he has handled in such a short time.

“They are giving up out of frustration,’’ Fields said of the employers. “Most of them are very compassionate but they simply can’t afford health insurance any more.’’

Precisely how many small businesses have recently given up offering insurance is hard to pinpoint. The Office of Labor and Workforce Development said the most recent quarterly insurance data collected from small companies has not been compiled.

Oh, snap! It seems that companies are kicking their employees off of their insurance rolls and hoisting them on the taxpayer! What a shock! You think that this might happen with ObamaCare? Nah, come on now.

Our health care future

If you want to see what the likely future of national health care will be like in the future, look to what is happening in the state of Massachusetts:

The standoff between Massachusetts regulators and health insurance companies intensified yesterday, as most insurers stopped offering new coverage to small businesses and individuals, and state officials demanded that the insurers post updated rates online and resume offering policies by Friday.

People seeking to buy health insurance for the first time, or customers looking to change policies, found they could not do so, at least temporarily.

The confusion — or market chaos, as one insurance industry official called it — followed the state Division of Insurance’s rejection last week of 235 of 274 premium increases proposed by insurers. The increases were for policies covering what is known as the small group market, which includes more than 800,000 people across Massachusetts.

Insurance Commissioner Joseph G. Murphy said he has asked insurers to quote rates for new coverage through the state’s Health Connector website by week’s end, and reminded them that they are required by law to do so. The new quotes would use base rates set last year, plus additional factors such as the age and size of a company’s workforce, Murphy said.

“If we don’t see the rates posted by the end of the week, we have a variety of enforcement tools at our disposal, including the ability to fine carriers,’’ warned Murphy. “It’s imperative that consumers have information available to them as they consider their purchasing options,’’ he said.

Health insurers, however, said they could not calculate new rates until a judge rules on their request for an injunction to prevent the state from continuing to block increases for the coverage period that started April 1. Insurance carriers had proposed premium rate increases averaging 8 to 32 percent, which the state found excessive. The case is expected to go before a Superior Court judge in Boston as early as tomorrow.

What a mess, but it's really not a surprise. Hang on tight because this is coming to a theater near you.

Will ObamaCare pass?

The prediction market at Intrade is bearish.

Californians will foot the bill

I am not a big fan of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger but his latest statement on national health care reform accentuates what I and other fiscal conservatives have been saying for months now. Gov. Schwarzenegger, who had endorsed national reform, now says the following:

"You've heard of the bridge to nowhere? This is health care to nowhere...the current structure and the proposed expansion of Medicaid under health care reform are unsustainable for California."

Many Liberals in California thought that national health care "reform" was going to be free! If you just tax the rich guys and the insurance companies, we'll be just like France. Little did they know that they were footing the bill for everyone else...including the hated RED states. You see, because wages and earnings tend to be higher in California than the rest of the country, the "rich guy" is them. I guess unicorns don't exist after all.

John Mackey on health care reform

Listen to Overpaid Celebrities

This video is a response to Will Ferrell's stupid MoveOn.org video.

Best post I've read on health care today

Robert Lawson from Division of Labor wrote the following on how he would like health care reformed. I think that is worthy of our attention:

Of course I would love to see no government involvement in health care or insurance at all, but government completely dominates almost everything about health care (as in finance). The system we have is based on the rules and incentives created by government. I honestly don't know what health care would look like without the government being involved. And given this starting place, it is all but impossible to disentangle the government's tentacles from the system.

But as far as logical first steps for policy: (1) end the tax advantage for obtaining health insurance from your employer. We HAVE to decouple health insurance from employment. Either allow individuals to deduct health costs or end the employer tax deduction. (2) End insurance policy mandates (e.g., mental health parity and the like) so people can buy insurance plans to fit their needs (3) Dramatically loosen (I would eliminate) medical licensing rules so that nurses and other health care pros can compete with doctors. (4) Drop prescription requirements for all drugs so we can get drugs without doctor approval.

It would be vastly better to handle most health care expenses out of pocket like we do everything else in life with insurance only used for catastrophic events. Medical savings accounts would help here perhaps. Insurance markets work well for fire, life, serious car accidents, etc. and can work for health care too but we can't insure day to day costs (well we can, but it is dumb to do so).

Alas, I expect we will always have some uninsured and some who have trouble paying for health care no matter what we do. Some people will die and suffer for lack of care or money. I know this bothers you. I don't like this myself but I accept that we live in a world of scarcity and that we will not have everything in life we want no matter how rich "we" become. I see health care as no more of a "right" than I do food or anything else. We can socialize medicine as you wish, but it will not end hardship or injustice. At best, socialized medicine will shift the margins of suffering to other areas (such as reducing medical innovation and economic growth in general).

Also I expect health care will continue to be very very expensive no matter what. If we want to drop a lot of money on wasteful and ineffective end-of-life procedures, which is the big problem, and we're spending our own money, then that's what we're going to do.