I'm going to miss the Boston Globe, if the New York Times decides to shut it down. Its coverage of the consequences of the 2006 state law mandating "universal" coverage has been excellent. (Indeed, that might be one reason that the New York Pravda wants to shut it down: "universal" health care is a mantra of its editorial page.)
Reading this blog's coverage of the Massachusetts reform has been like Chinese water torture - drip, drip, drip. Well here's more: According to the BoGlo, the state hospital association claims that hospitals' profit margins have dropped from 0.7% to 0.3% in the last year. Patients are deferring surgeries, and hospitals are delaying capital investments.
Hospitals were big supporters of the 2006 reform. Will they change their mind and support reforms that empower patients and not government? Perhaps not: patients interviewed in the story are unhappy about taking financial responsibility for any part of their hospitalization - perhaps a result of decades of government-led infantilization.
Increasing government control is quickly turning into a lose-lose-lose situation: bad for patients, providers, and taxpayers.
Research and commentary from a former senior executive in the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
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