Shocker: Health Insurance Still Expensive
When the state passed legislation that would require every Massachusetts resident to have health insurance, then-Gov. Mitt Romney and House Speaker Sal DiMasi promised a utopia in which everyone would get much-needed routine medical care without going bankrupt.
But a new study by the Globe and the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation finds that many people in our state still worry about paying their medical bills.
A third of those surveyed said the cost of care is their biggest health concern, and 39 percent ranked it among their top two health concerns. No other concern came close.
Thirteen percent of residents with insurance said they were unable to pay for some health services in the past year. The same percentage of insured people said they did not fill at least one prescription because it was too expensive or their insurance copayment was too high.
It’s pathetic that the high cost of treatment makes people view their bodies like cars. “Well, I can still see, so I can probably skip the optometrist. My teeth are still in my head, so until the cavities get too bad, I can take a pass on the dentist too. And I know I’m due for a physical, but I can probably go another thousand miles.”
We can insure people all we want, but until the cost of drugs and doctors visits is reduced, we’re still going to find that residents will still skip preventative care in order to pay for things like gas and food.
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:23 pm
You’re missing the whole point. Yes, people have trouble paying their copays and deductibles. It’s a sad fact. People are under-insured. But since health reform passed:
1. We have a much lower rate of underinsurance than the rest of the country; and
2. Our underinsurance rate has been going down in the past 2 years.
So you can flippantly talk about politicians promising utopia (which they didn’t do), but in real life health reform is dramatically improving care for thousands of Bay Staters.