The state of Massachusetts has come up with a plan to give poor people access to health insu
rance: fine them for not having any.
When you fail to design an insurance plan that works, it follows that you demand money from people who have none and then have the audacity not to spend it on health insurance. Then again, if we collect $900 from every poor family in the state, that will probably give us enough money to finance a statewide insurance program. Then, perhaps, the state can follow their demands with an idea of how to meet them.
Amazing that this is a state which boasts a pretty incomparable academic tradition. However, between Harvard, MIT, Boston College, Tufts, North Eastern, Suffolk and a myriad of other higher institutions, this is the best plan legislators could find.
This post comes after a conversation with a friend of mine getting ready to complete nursing school. The career that guarantees you a solid job with a nice paycheck has hit a bump with the brilliance of the state of Massachusetts. Now hospitals in the state are left hanging if they treat a patient without insurance. A hospital can not legally turn away any one in need of treatment, but no reimbursement comes from the state for these freebies. So a catch 22 is strung. And hospitals absorbing more costs means, among other things, hiring freezes. Welcome, class of 2009.
Now, if
people were to be slapped with jail time for failing to follow the state's decree concerning insurance, that would be wrongful imprisonment, and highly illegal, correct? However, a fine is okay? Charged for a law I don't remember voting on as a Mass resident? Time can not be claimed by the state, but your money is up for grabs. How is that legal? Or just plain fair? It's certainly a new twist to "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."
rance: fine them for not having any.When you fail to design an insurance plan that works, it follows that you demand money from people who have none and then have the audacity not to spend it on health insurance. Then again, if we collect $900 from every poor family in the state, that will probably give us enough money to finance a statewide insurance program. Then, perhaps, the state can follow their demands with an idea of how to meet them.
Amazing that this is a state which boasts a pretty incomparable academic tradition. However, between Harvard, MIT, Boston College, Tufts, North Eastern, Suffolk and a myriad of other higher institutions, this is the best plan legislators could find.
This post comes after a conversation with a friend of mine getting ready to complete nursing school. The career that guarantees you a solid job with a nice paycheck has hit a bump with the brilliance of the state of Massachusetts. Now hospitals in the state are left hanging if they treat a patient without insurance. A hospital can not legally turn away any one in need of treatment, but no reimbursement comes from the state for these freebies. So a catch 22 is strung. And hospitals absorbing more costs means, among other things, hiring freezes. Welcome, class of 2009.
Now, if
people were to be slapped with jail time for failing to follow the state's decree concerning insurance, that would be wrongful imprisonment, and highly illegal, correct? However, a fine is okay? Charged for a law I don't remember voting on as a Mass resident? Time can not be claimed by the state, but your money is up for grabs. How is that legal? Or just plain fair? It's certainly a new twist to "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."
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