In my latest reading of The Real Romney, Michael Kranish and
Scott Helman talk about the outcome of Romney-care in Massachusetts.
They say that Romney-care has dramatically reduced the number of the
uninsured and that more businesses are now providing health insurance to
employees. Yet, health care costs continue to rise. Kranish and
Helman don't think this is the fault of Romney-care, though, for
Massachusetts had the highest health care costs in the U.S. prior to
Romney-care. Kranish and Helman conclude by saying that Romney-care
"remains a work in progress, an ongoing experiment, especially when it
comes to bringing costs down" (page 278).
I think it's sad that
Romney-care did not bring down health care costs, since that should be
the goal of health care reform. Wasn't the whole idea behind the health
insurance mandate that it would bring down costs because the cost of
"free" emergency care for the uninsured would no longer be passed on to
the consumers, since people would pull their own weight by having
insurance? Why, then, do costs continue to rise?