Grace-Marie Turner of the Galen Institute points out that the Massachusetts "universal" health plan may have reduced the number of uninsured citizens, but only by imposing an onerous burden on the taxpayers, due to the massive subsidies given away to the poor. Costs are still not being contained, and the stated goal of "coverage as good as members of Congress have", will cost an average family of four an astounding $23,000 per year.
Advocates of Massachusetts-style mandatory insurance like to claim that this system avoids the cost-shifting prevalent under the present system. It does no such thing -- it merely folds it into the state budget and disguises it in the form of higher taxes.
The only system that will control costs, preserve access, and improve quality is a system that allows consumers, doctors, and insurers to freely contract for medical good and services according to their own best judgment for their mutual self-interest -- namely the free market.
The blog of Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine (FIRM)
