The Boston Globe is reporting that the Massachusetts legislature "will probably make changes" to the new health care law that could well include capping what a person has to pay for health insurance at 10% before the individual mandate law can be enforced.
Presumably, this would mean a family with a household income of $50,000 per year would have to pay no more than $5,000. I fear that is still too high a number for a family of three, for example, who would not qualify for a state subsidy.
Let me first say that I continue to applaud Massachusetts for at least trying to deal with this health care issue and that I believe the "Connector" is doing all it can with the cards it has been dealt.
But what the discussion in the Mass legislature does point to is something I have been talking about for months: Massachusetts will not be able to implement their new health care law to anywhere near the point they wanted because they have not adequately dealt with the fundamental underlying problem--the cost of health care.
My earlier post: The Massachusetts Health Plan Will Turn Out to Be Little More Than a Fancy Expansion of Medicaid--Bids Come In At $250 Per Person Per Month