May 22, 2007 4:05 pm US/Eastern
Keller: How Affordable Is State's Health Care Law?
by Jon Keller
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
In just 39 days, every resident of Massachusetts will be required to have health insurance.
And today at Fenway Park, the Red Sox teamed up with state officials to spread the word about what they say is a range of affordable insurance options.
But just how affordable is this new health-care law?
State officials say don't worry, be happy, the innovative, heavily-subsidized new health-care law won't break the bank or drive taxes up.
Then again, that's more or less the same thing their predecessors told us about the Big Dig.
Health insurance. Massachusetts residents are now required to have it. And the state's health connector makes it more affordable and easier to get
Television ads promoting the new health-care law were unveiled today by the Red Sox, partners with the state in a drive to sign up the remaining uninsured, mostly men under 40.
But amid all the hype and self-congratulation of today's roll-out, a troubling fact went unmentioned.
Nobody knows for sure how much the innovative new plan will wind up costing the state in a climate where health-care expenses only travel one way - upward.
For a private company like the Red Sox, it's a perennial cost of doing business, with a predictable solution.
Keller: "If the costs of insuring Red Sox employees rise beyond expectations, they can always raise ticket prices. If state costs for this plan rise beyond expectations, where will the money come from?"
Gov. Patrick: "Well, look, we're going to do our best first of all to try to get costs down."
And if cost-control efforts falter, as they have in the past?
Gov. Patrick: "That's where we have to go first, it seems to me."
Keller: "But in the end, it'll be covered by the taxpayers, right?"
Gov. Patrick: "In the end, it'll be covered by efficiencies."
Hopefully, he's right and universal health care won't become a green-eating monster with an appetite for scarce tax dollars.
State officials say they hope to save millions by cutting down on costly emergency-room visits by uninsured people, but if all else fails, the state treasury is the bank of last resort.
You can read the details about all of the plans offered by the Commonwealth Connector and compare them
on their web site.
You can sign up by calling 1-877-623-6765.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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