State Sponsored Health Care Plan: the Solution America Needs?

In 2007, according to the US Census Bureau, there were 45.7 million uninsured individuals in America or 15.3% of our overall population in the US. Various reasons were and are still cited for this tragedy in the American health care system. Recently, political pundits and debates have pointed fingers at the rising Health Care costs as part of the reason why the Health Care system. But with the rising costs, fewer employers are offering full coverage and others are requiring more employee contribution towards their own health care insurance. But most simply, some individuals are too poor or unemployed and some do not even buy an insurance plan because they automatically get rejected (their health conditions) or they feel like they are healthy and do not need a plan. Whatever the reason maybe, our health care system is faced with growing expenses, less quality of care even though expenses rise and a vast number of uninsured individuals. Recently, the state of Massachusetts decided to establish a universal health care plan that would help bring even the uninsured of their population basic health care coverage. The city of San Francisco is initiating a similar plan there and other big states are talking of a similar initiative in their own states to extend health care to their citizens.

            So what exactly is the Massachusetts health care reform plan? The Massachusetts health reform act of 2006 mandates all the residents of the state to purchase a health insurance by July 2007 and the creation of an independent body known as “Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority” to help facilitate the selection of these plans by individuals, small businesses and those that need subsidized help. In order to ensure affordability and to make sure each and every person has a health care plan, the plan provided each individual with a certain amount of subsidized help from the state based on their income and the Federal Poverty Line. However the issue was at determining what is the definition of “affordable coverage” and what level of coverage would meet the mandate of getting everyone covered. Such terms were not included in the legislation and the Health Connector Authority was given the authority to determine those factors. Individuals who make less than $15,000 (150% of Federal Poverty line) pay no premiums and provides subsidized coverage plans based on income for individuals up to $30,000 (300% of US Federal poverty line). The plan also has no deductibles and is offered by organizations participating in the Medicaid programs. However the downside to this plan is that it relies heavily on Federal Medicaid funding, thus on a national scale, implementing such plans throughout other states is not feasible especially since some states do not have such good federal funding. Also if a majority of states implement such a plan, then the Federal costs for Medicaid would increase, if not become a burden nationwide. With any plan, unfortunately, the question will always remain as to who will pay for it. However, as of April 2008, the law has been credited with enrolling over 400,000 Massachusetts residents into an insurance plan that is affordable and regulated. Those who do not enroll in a plan are faced with punitive measures on their income tax – offering an incentive for all to join the plan and to pay the premiums as well as contribute to keeping the plan going. The success so far of the plan was praised on a national stage – especially by the Republican governor Mitt Romney during the Presidential primaries. Many states are also following suite and is more willing to implement similar plans.