[lbo-talk] Mass health care

Gar Lipow the.typo.boy at gmail.com
Fri Apr 7 18:28:02 PDT 2006


On 4/7/06, joanna <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:
> I have not exactly pored over the details, but it looks to me like the
> Massachussetts plan is a give away to medical insurance companies.
>
> -- It forces small companies to buy coverage for their employees -- that
> might be the only plus.
> -- It offers the rich a pre-tax deduction for health care expenses
> -- It criminalizes those poor people who cannot choose insurance
> premiums over food
>
> In short, if I'm reading it right, it's a near complete obscenity.
>
> Joanna
>

If I'm reading it right you are being too kind. Do you know what the penalty for not providing health insurance for an employee is? $295 per *year*. Also if an employee is uninsured and gets sick you have to pay a multiple of what taking care of them costs. That is a bit more of an incentive, but can be handled by discriminating against unhealthly employees (hard to prove, if not a disability is it even always illegal). An employer can require employees to buy health insurance as a condition of continued employment - which would be legal since if an employer does not provide insurance the employee is required to find individual insurance.

Also, unless this comes with some really strong regulatory teeth (which given that it was designed by the Heritage foundations is unlikely) I'll bet the insurance companies come out with some brand new, really crappy, really cheap plans.



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