There was an excellent article in The Boston Globe yesterday. The article explains that Governor Deval Patrick (Massachusetts) is seeking "widespread emergency cuts in the state budget" because tax collections "plummeted by $200 million in the first two weeks of September". Here is my favorite quote:
The state also faces rising costs associated with its universal healthcare law, which has led to higher-than-expected enrollment in state-funded insurance programs. Patrick proposed a plan to raise an additional $130 million from employers and insurers to help fund the new law.http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/09/20/patrick_ponders_big_cuts_as_state_revenue_tumbles/
(unfortunately, The Boston Globe requires you to sign up for a free account in order to view the second page of this article)
I won't blather on about this because I know very little about it. I just wanted to note the simple logic which has been clearly proven here: when the government offers an easy way out, people take it. Universal health care seems to bring "higher-than-expected" everything.
Also, I like how they call it "a plan to raise an additional $130 million from employers and insurers to help fund the new law". Again, I do not know this, but I bet that means TAX!
From the other side of the issue, the fact that higher-than-expected numbers of people have enrolled in state-funded insurance is a good thing. I can buy into the claim that more people with health insurance is good, but I won't claim that more people on state-run health care is. First of all, this means that more taxpayer money is supporting these people's health care (as the article mentions). This is communist. Ideally, I should not be paying a dime for my neighbor's health care. Second, this is sure to encourage more interaction on the government's part in the medical field. And we all know that when the government gets involved, things get ugly.
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