Obamacare: more bad news from Massachusetts

As you no doubt know by now, Obamacare is designed to bring to the entire country what Romneycare brought to Massachusetts.  We are told that under Obamacare, as was told by Romney to the residents of Massachusetts, uninsureds will now have insurance coverage and it won’t cost the taxpayers anything, your health costs will go down, you will have better insurance because the government will decide what must be in your insurance policy, and, your premiums will go down.  So, let’s look again at Massachusetts.

Romneycare has indeed lowered the number of uninsureds, but, more than half of the new insureds pay absolutely nothing for their insurance.  Due to the enormous cost of this to the taxpayers, the state is now considering limiting the number of people accepted into the program.

And how about reducing health care costs?

One third of state residents polled by Harvard researchers in a study published in “Health Affairs” in 2008 said that their health costs had gone up as a result of the 2006 reforms. A typical family of four today faces total annual health costs of nearly $13,788, the highest in the country. Per capita spending is 27% higher than the national average.

And what about better insurance, becaues the government decides what must be covered in any insurance policy sold in the state?  Well, I guess, your insurance might be more extensive, but,

A 2008 study by the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy found that the state’s most expensive insurance mandates cost patients more than $1 billion between July 2004 and July 2005. [Romneycare] left all of [those mandates] in place.

And, were that not enough, the promise of reducing every one’s premiums has also failed miserably.  Massachusetts now has the highest insurance premiums in the country.  This is because, as we see in Obamacare, insurance companies are required to insure anyone, regardless of their health condition, and, charge everyone basically the same rate.  Are you thinking of blaming the insurance companies for these high premiums?  Think again.

Three of the four major health insurers in Massachusetts showed operating losses for 2009. If their rates are capped, [as Governor Patrick wants to do] they say they’ll be forced to cut payments to health providers, putting further pressure on doctors and fragile hospitals.

So, all of the promises we heard from then Governor Romney, have been proven to be untrue.  Obama’s promises will prove to be equally untrue as all of the key provisions of Romneycare are in Obamacare.

But, it gets worse.

Fifty-six percent of Massachusetts internal medicine physicians no longer are accepting new patients, according to a 2009 physician work-force study conducted by the Massachusetts Medical Society. For new patients who do get an appointment with a primary-care doctor, the average waiting time is 44 days, the Medical Society found.

Dr. Sandra Schneider, the vice president of the American College of Emergency Physicians said:

Just because you have insurance doesn’t mean there’s a [primary care] physician who can see you.”

So, what happens to the people who have insurance coverage under Romneycare, but no available doctor?  They go back to the emergency rooms.

The difficulties in getting primary care have led to an increasing number of patients who rely on emergency rooms for basic medical services. Emergency room visits jumped 7% between 2005 and 2007.

Obamacare is bad for you, it’s bad for the country, it’s bad for doctors, and it’s bad for insurance companies.

If you haven’t already done so, contact to your representative.  Link to this post if you want.  There are no “talking points” in this post,  just the facts.