Say Anything Blog

And of Mitt Romney’s bona fides to be President.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Presidential hopeful John Edwards recently unveiled a plan for universal health care, proving that the bad idea of raising taxes on employers and forcing individuals to purchase insurance holds bipartisan appeal. Before others get carried away with this model, they should take a look at its most recent manifestation in Massachusetts.

When then-Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, introduced a universal health-insurance plan in the Bay State early last year, it was widely acclaimed. But less than a year after passage, RomneyCare is in the intensive care unit, soon to be wheeled into hospice.

The first signs of trouble appeared last August. In a filing to support general obligation bonds, officials projected that the new plan would increase state government health-care spending by $276.4 million in 2007. That’s $151 million more than what the public had been told the plan would cost. Meanwhile, the state’s new bureaucracy, busily signing up people for free care, has run into trouble finding affordable plans for those who have to pay. The premiums for subsidized plans would consume up to 6% of a person’s income—prompting calls from activists and echoes from politicians that they should be exempted from the individual mandate. So much for universal coverage.

Reality fully hit in late January of this year, when private insurers submitted bids to the bureaucracy that would administer the new program. The average premium for the unsubsidized plans was not $200 per month—as Mr. Romney promised from the stump—but rather $380. That’s more than 15% of the target audiences’ income—and for a plan with a $2,000 deductible and a total cost sharing of $5,000. People were stunned, outraged. Naturally, “greedy” private insurers were blamed. Politicians called for price controls.

Read the whole thing.

Government-backed health care has led to nothing but inflated prices, shortages in services and supplies and inefficient, non-customer-friendly service every single time it’s been tried both in American and around the globe.  Yet for some reason people still seem to think it’s a good idea.

You’d think at some point these people would look at the performance record of nationalized health care and realize that there are better solutions available.  It doesn’t speak much to their intelligence that they don’t.