Wall Street Journal Letters to the Editor Dispute Claims About Massachusetts Health Insurance Law
The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday published two letters to the editor responding to an earlier letter and an opinion piece about the Massachusetts health insurance law and access to care. Summaries appear below.
- Shikha Dalmia: Jon Kingsdale, executive director for the Massachusetts Health Insurance Connector Authority, in a Journal letter to the editor "accuses me of prematurely offering a negative prognosis" for the Massachusetts law, but "he's the one in denial," Dalmia, a senior analyst at the Reason Foundation, writes in a Journal letter to the editor. Dalmia continues, "Kingsdale disputes my figures about the cost overruns for the subsidized portion," but the state budgeted $472 million for the portion this year and spent $619 million. In addition, Dalmia writes, next year the "governor is seeking subsidies worth $869 million -- an 85% increase over this year's original budget." According to Dalmia, "Kingsdale insists that uninsured couples in their 50s can obtain coverage for half of the $8,200 that I had claimed," but it "would only pan out if federal and state tax breaks discounted ... premiums by 60% -- a virtual impossibility." Dalmia concludes, "The preliminary results of Massachusetts' grand universal care experiment are not encouraging," and "Kingsdale does Bay State residents no favors by pretending otherwise" (Dalmia, Wall Street Journal, 2/13).
- James Hunt: "Dalmia's strong objection to the inclusion of an individual mandate in the Massachusetts health care reform law reflects her opinion on a point of policy," but "her assertions that Massachusetts' neighborhood health centers are 'ill-equipped to treat anything beyond routine ailments' and provide 'substandard care' reveal a fundamental lack of knowledge about community-based health centers," Hunt, president and CEO of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, writes in a Journal letter to the editor in response to a Journal opinion piece. Hunt writes that the centers "undergo rigorous national accreditation" and that patients who seek care at the centers get "medical, dental, behavioral health care and chronic disease management." Hunt concludes, "As the health care price tag becomes an increasingly critical issue for our country, we expect that more people will recognize the value that our community health center network brings to the table" (Hunt, Wall Street Journal, 2/13).
