Sunday, November 18, 2007

Romneycare a Runaway "Success"

Well...not exactly.

Another stunning development just in from the "Nothing Could Shock Me Less" News Department.

First, a look back to April 2006:

Governor Mitt Romney signed most of a sweeping new healthcare bill into law yesterday at a festive Faneuil Hall ceremony hailed as a hallmark of bipartisan achievement, even as healthcare specialists expressed concern that the plan could start losing money in three years.

[...]

A number of economists and health policy specialists interviewed by the Globe said that the plan's financing is solid for the next two years, especially since lawmakers have added a cushion of money in case of unexpected costs.

But some specialists warned that the picture is less certain after that. "There are a lot of things that have to happen right for there to be enough money," said John Holahan of the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan policy research organization in Washington, D.C.


As I wrote in response:

Yeah, and one of those things is for the population of people paying into the system to keep up with the population of people taking out of the system. I'm not seeing that happening down the road.


Well, hey, guess what?

Boston Globe - November 2007:

Success could put health plan in the red

Enrollment in the state's new subsidized health plan is growing so quickly that the state could face a funding gap as large as $147 million by the end of the fiscal year, according to a state projection.


To understand how that can be classified as a success, you're probably gonna need your Mumbonics to English Dictionary. I don't want to know what would have to transpire for Flutiecare to be deemed a failure.

Welcome to Massachusetts.

Now bend over.