Responsibility for Uninsured ‘Lies With Washington’ but State Should ‘Press Ahead,’ Editorial Says
Recent setbacks for efforts in Massachusetts and California to expand health insurance to more residents should not prompt states to "stop trying to cover the uninsured -- especially since the federal government is AWOL" -- but the "problems do suggest that officials need to make the most realistic possible cost estimates and be prepared to provide resources to subsidize coverage for those who can't afford it," a New York Times editorial states.
In Massachusetts, a recently implemented health insurance law "has cost a lot more in its opening phases than originally projected, raising fears about its sustainability," in large part because of "underestimating the number of uninsured and the rate at which they would sign up for subsidized coverage," according to the editorial. "This is a surprisingly quick start for a hugely complicated program launched only a year and a half ago," the editorial states, noting that 300,000 previously uninsured people now have coverage. The editorial adds that the "challenge ahead is to restrain the escalation of medical costs, hold premiums to single-digit increases and find new sources of revenue," such as "new taxes, higher contributions from businesses and possibly the federal government."
In California, a health insurance proposal recently failed in the state Senate "after the legislative analyst provided a pessimistic report about its long-term financial prospects," and the plan "never gained widespread popular support, mainly because of fears that many workers would be forced to buy policies that they could not readily afford," the editorial states.
The "responsibility for bringing coverage to more than 40 million uninsured Americans almost certainly lies with Washington, which has vastly greater power to raise revenues and curb escalating medical costs," the editorial states, adding, "Until that happens, the states are right to press ahead with their own programs ... to ensure that everyone has ready access to essential treatment and potentially cost-saving preventive care" (New York Times, 2/9).
