Universal healthcare
The state Legislature of Massachusetts has just passed a fascinating bill (link via Sullivan)that would mandate every citizen of that state to purchase health insurance, much in the same way that it mandates automobile insurance for car owners.
Interestingly enough, Republican Gov. Mitt Romney has said that he will sign the Democratic Legislature's bill into law, and double-interestingly enough, both sides agree it's a move toward personal responsibility!
Read the article and let me know what you think.
posted by Joshua @ 3:08 PM
1 Comments:
I have mixed feelings about this. One the one had, universal health care is something I have been advocating for years, long before I actually lost my own insurance. On the other, I’m curious to hear more about these subsidies for insurance the state is going to give out, and more importantly, how they judge who will have to pay for what.
First off: comparing health insurance to car insurance is ridiculous. Nobody has to have a car. You can’t afford to pay, you don’t, and you find other alternatives to get around. On the other hand, if you have to go to a hospital, you have to go. If you can’t afford it, either you go to a county hospital and go through tons of red tape, or you die. I doubt many of the 10% of US citizens without insurance go without because of a lack of personal responsibility – cost is a huge issue. That part of the article actually annoyed me a lot, because they basically implied that going to the hospital without insurance was simply being lazy and mooching off the government.
This is a rather personal issue for me as I was without health insurance for two years, up to about 2 months ago. My reason? I couldn’t afford it, and being a freelancer, having an employer cover me was a pipe dream. I found every cheap way of going to doctors once or twice a year (at discounted but still exorbitant rates). Every time I went, I was approached by someone from the state of New York’s healthy choice (or whatever it’s called), asking me to talk to them to see if I qualified for free or subsidized health insurance. I did not, because according to the government, I was well above the poverty level and therefore I should be able to afford $200-$300 a month for my health insurance. This was at a time that I struggled to pay my rent and lived off of Cup O’ Noodles. I’m sure the other freelancers on the board can agree with me – it’s very easy for us to fall into the cracks of not quite poor enough to get assistance, but not wealthy enough to be able to afford things like insurance, 401Ks, school financial assistance, etc. While I applaud the fact that the Massachusetts government is doing SOMETHING to try and combat the problem, there’s a large population of people in their early to mid-20s that I have a feeling might get screwed over in this scheme if the government doesn’t radically adjust their ideas of what people should be able to afford to pay.
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