Posted on 03/08/2011 12:53:01 PM PST by Nachum
An individual mandate has done little to stem the rate of medical bankruptcies in Massachusetts, boding poorly for the federal healthcare reform law enacted almost a year ago, according to a new liberal study.
The number of medical bankruptcies in Massachusetts increased from 7,504 in 2007 to 10,093 in 2009, while the state’s rate of medical bankruptcies experienced a “non-significant” decrease from 59.3 percent to 52.9, said researchers Dr. David Himmelstein and Dr. Steffie Woolhandler in the American Journal of Medicine.
The authors, both affiliated with single-payer advocate Physicians for a National Health Program, said medical bankruptcies continue to plague Massachusetts because the 2006 reform, pushed by then-Gov. Mitt Romney (R), covered more people but provided them with weak insurance. The researchers said this raises the same concern with the federal healthcare overhaul because it was modeled after the Massachusetts reform, including the requirement for all individuals to purchase insurance by 2014.
“Massachusetts’ health reform, like the national law modeled after it, takes many of the uninsured and makes them underinsured, typically giving them a skimpy, defective private policy that’s like an umbrella that melts in the rain: the protection’s not there when you need it,” Himmelstein said in a statement.
President Obama and Democrats often cited the need to end medical bankruptcies as they made their case for healthcare reform. However, the liberal advocates say the reforms do not go far enough.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
The list, ping
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No government program is ever a failure, it’s just underfunded.
I wouldn’t use this as ammo against Mitt, given it’s from single-payer advocates who want MORE gubmit insurance, not less.
Why not? This was his brain child.
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