There was a poll done in Mass where 100% of all children and 98% of all adults are covered

[Bandit]

by Health Insurance and 75% said they love it... That means quite a few Republicans love their Insurance and do not object to the Mandate....I find that very interesting. I know there is a lot of concern here about how the Government will go about enforcing the Mandate.. Just look to Mass for your answer. They are doing just fine with it..

[notadmblnd]

1. I wonder what a Man in the Street type interview from the people of Mass

on it would sound like?

[Romulox]

2. Massachusetts has the highest medical insurance premiums in the country, though... nt

[kestrel91316]

4. No, that would be us here in SoCal.

[pnwmom]

8. Do you have a link for that?

[Romulox]

10. From Today's Boston.com: "Massachusetts individual insurance premiums are the highest..."

Massachusetts individual insurance premiums are the highest in the country, more than double the national average in 2010, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, which tracks the data.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2012/07/01/court_approval_of_health_law_sets_national_stage_for_the_cost_limits_that_massachusetts_is_seeking/

I hear it so often, it must be true. All over the nation, everyone seems to know that Massachusetts has the nation's most expensive health insurance. It usually is brought up as a way to criticize Massachusetts health reform: "Yes, you may have covered nearly everyone, but what about your out-of-control high insurance premiums?"

So is it true? Do we have the most expensive premiums in the U.S.? The answer may surprise you.

Let's start with the data most people know: average family health insurance premiums, state-by-state, 2009. See that state way over on the right? That's Massachusetts, and the data are federal (courtesy of the Commonwealth Fund) showing our premiums #1, the most costly in the nation (Arkansas is the cheapest). Guilty as charged.





Some things help to explain the difference. Massachusetts health insurance tends to include lower deductibles and other kinds of cost sharing which are much higher in most other states, a difference that inflates MA premiums as compared with those in other states. Massachusetts has the highest proportion of physicians, nurses and many other health professional categories than all other states. And our costs have always been the highest, not just since the Massachusetts health reform law passed in 2006. But still, guilty as charged.

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/health_stew/2011/11/does_massachusetts_have_the_na.html

[pnwmom]

12. But if it has much lower deductibles and lower cost-sharing, then it may be worth it.

It's also interesting that MA premiums were the highest even before this plan went into effect.

[Romulox]

13. True. Still, the point stands. I included the sympathetic article excerpt, so as to

not paint a one-sided picture, nonetheless.

[HappyMe]

3. Here's something I found.

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/health_stew/2011/11/does_massachusetts_have_the_na.html


Doesn't sound bad to me.

[ananda]

5. Good article on relative costs for states, HappyMe.

I like the conclusion. That if the costs are bad for MA, and they are,
they are much worse for many other states.. and we need a better law.

Of course, ACA is certainly better than nothing.. but it could be so MUCH
better.

[HappyMe]

6. Well, of course it could be better.

I'm glad though, as it opens the door. Plenty of people will benefit from it as it stands now.

[pnwmom]

9. Medicare, when it began, had many flaws, which have been repaired over the years.

The most recent was closing the donut hole in drug coverage, which was accomplished in the ACA.

[Romulox]

11. The President won in 2008 on a platform of reforming NAFTA...

[snot]

7. Re- costs, what matters is

not so much what the relative premium costs are, but what the total health care costs are vs. total health results.
I.e., I think you'd have to find states or societies with different systems but similar per capita health stats, like mortality rates or the like, and then compare their total health care costs; etc.