June 15, 2013

Mission Not Accomplished

By Deane Waldman
Three recent public announcements have convinced some to claim victory in the healthcare wars. Such a declaration is just as timely as the Iraq "Mission Accomplished" banner behind President Bush on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in May of 2003. Rather than being a roaring success, the mission of reforming our healthcare system is increasingly showing itself to be a failure. Claim #1: Affordable health insurance rates The ACA mandates the creation of Health Insurance Exchanges (HIX) that are supposed to provide low-cost health insurance for small business owners as well as individuals, especially the poor and those with chronic conditions. State HIXs in Vermont and California have recently published health insurance rates that they claim are lower than were available pre-ACA in the private market. Quite a feat, if true. Vermont may be cheaper. As yet there is no objective comparison analysis to validate their claim. California is a different story. Peter Lee, Executive...(Read Full Article)