The Boston Globe reports on the grand failure of the "progressives":
Massachusetts has the most expensive family health insurance premiums in the country, according to a new analysis that highlights the state’s challenge in trying to rein in medical costs after passage of a landmark 2006 law that mandated coverage for nearly everyone.
The report by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit health care foundation, showed that the average family premium for plans offered by employers in Massachusetts was $13,788 in 2008, 40 percent higher than in 2003. Over the same period, premiums nationwide rose an average of 33 percent.
The report did not break out how much premiums have increased in Massachusetts since the 2006 changes went into effect, so it does not show whether the law affected the rate of price increases. Still, with the state’s law often cited as a model for a national health care overhaul, advocates on various sides of the issue said the report underscores the urgency of including cost controls in any large-scale federal or state overhaul.
The Globe reminds us:
President Obama has championed a national health care overhaul that includes cost controls, as well as coverage expansion to nearly every American. But critics have questioned some of his administration’s projected savings, and his proposal for a public insurance plan to compete with private insurers is faltering in Congress.
If you read one article today, this is the one. Coercion doesn't lower costs, even if a Cook County Democratic politician tells you so.
