A Big achiever

And despite the false claims of ideologues, academics and politicians to tell the facts of the story of a remarkable success, the law of Massachusetts health care reform. The lengths of the critics are missing in their various attempts to refute the obvious sign that our state law of 2006 and the amount in the implementation of a truly historic achievement would be funny if the topic not so serious.
Facts:
• The number of people with health insurance coverage in Massachusetts has risen to more than 400,000 people, according to data from the state in recent years. The proportion of state residents who have no health insurance, that only 2.6% dropped to about 8.2% by the health care reform. (These figures will be updated in August, the survey by the Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, conducted with a sample of 4,000 people. Figures from my opponent, the U.S. Census Bureau, in the samples on a low, and in his last, almost a year.)
• The cost to taxpayers is modest and help in accordance with the expected average of $ 88 million per year from 2006 to 2010, a state budget of about $ 30 billion to pay for 265,000 people newly insured are entitled to government grants ( 165,000 to 100,000 in Commonwealth Care and Medicaid).
• With more people look for insurance coverage through their work, employer-funded enrollment target for 100,000 since the adoption of health reform in times of recession than total employment has increased the state decreased to 100,000.
Since most employers offer coverage, are a mere 758 last year from 23,128 employers required to pay a "fair share" contribution of $ 295 per employee to help cover the cost of free care. The review refers to my opponent, since 40% of employers looking for violations of these companies only provision 426 in part-time and high turnover industries.
• In addition to the taxpayers and employers have done, people also to bolster its share in the spirit of shared responsibility, that the design of healthcare reform. The number of people who purchased insurance in the private market more than doubled, from 40,000 to 86,000.
• Because most people are referring to the provision of uncompensated care dropped by 38% in the first six months of 2008 versus the same period last year according to the Division of Health Care in line with the spirit of the law, these savings were used to subsidize insurance for people who are now required to have registered but can not afford, including the total 165,000 in Commonwealth Care are.
Meanwhile, the government sending large sums of money to the hospital safety net, but thanks to the insurance benefits on behalf of purchasers of new as lump sum payments to hospitals. Some hospitals are suffering economically, but because the government has cut Medicaid reimbursement rates for all hospitals because of falling tax revenues.
• A series of surveys on the state have shown that public support for health reform has been strong since the beginning, and remains so even in the midst of a severe recession. Employers support the reform carried out almost two to one margin in a study in 2008 by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation.
Behind these figures speak volumes about the impact of human activities on the success of healthcare reform in Massachusetts, the number of lives saved and improved medical care for hundreds of thousands of people.
Jaclyn Michalos is one aspect of health care reform in Massachusetts. With cancer at the age of 27 years, is now free of cancer, "she said through her care coverage Commonwealth program that coverage for individuals and families subsidized.
Abbie von Schlegell transferred rejected Maryland in 2007, where coverage was because of his history of deep vein thrombosis and asthma. Once adopted in Massachusetts, was a request for a plan of choice for the non-subsidized Commonwealth, and to his delight that his request. She said she pays less than half the price of other options is being considered at this time.
Some critics of the interim does not result in budget cuts for the care of community evidence the program is started. There are cuts, but not because of problems with the program. The State tax revenues are descent throughout the country because of the recession, with the Massachusetts before a structural deficit of 5 billion U.S. dollars for fiscal year 2010, none of your programs has not escaped the cutting board.
He also criticized wrongly, more and more health care in the state at the cost of Commonwealth Care. There is no evidence that health care reform has exacerbated the rise in the cost or the average increase in health care reform is a failure. Virtually everyone in the adoption of the budget 2006 was involved, that his main goal was to achieve near-universal access to, and the next chapter will deal with the deterioration in spending in the health service. The rising cost of health care throughout the country prior to health reform in Massachusetts for decades and remains a serious problem for the government, employers and individuals in Massachusetts and other states where the reform of health disappear tomorrow.
It is a cost for the provision of subsidized insurance. The savings from reducing the amount of free eighth, that is given to pay for the grants and keep the cost of extending coverage. However, no informed observer once said that the Massachusetts plan would reduce health care costs for everyone.
While the health sector reform an entire country is much more complex, the great success of the efforts of our government succeed in making a convincing presentation of the national reform can. One wonders why critics were so eagerly trying to distort the facts "prove" that the reform of Massachusetts, a failure. This is not a theoretical discussion, but a real performance and the lifeline for hundreds of thousands of citizens of Massachusetts.