Monday, January 12, 2009

Thank your lucky stars Beshear is broke

When gubernatorial candidate Steve Beshear talked about expanding government healthcare in Kentucky, it was hard not to figure he was doing a Massachusetts on the installment plan. From his campaign web site:

So how is "universal" healthcare working out for Massachusetts? From DCExaminer.com:
"Small businesses with more than 10 employees were required to provide health insurance or pay an extra fee to subsidize uninsured low-income residents, yet the overall costs of the program increased more than $400 million — 85 percent higher than original projections. To make up the difference, payments to health care providers were slashed, so many doctors and dentists in Massachusetts began refusing to take on new patients. In the state with the highest physician/patient ratio in the nation, some people now have to wait more than a year for a simple physical exam."

"The irony is that Massachusetts officials reluctantly admitted that, despite increased enrollment, the state is still far from universal coverage — the original goal of the landmark law. To make matters worse, Massachusetts is grappling with a multibillion-dollar deficit while Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick desperately tries to slow down those still-spiraling health care costs, which he said last week were "not sustainable.""
"If this sounds just like Canadian-style socialized medicine, that’s because it is. Massachusetts residents now pay more for less access to health care, yet their state still has an uninsured problem!"

Kentucky has already broken its bank on big government. Had it not, we surely would have gone for the sounds-good, feels-good quicksand that is drowning our northern friends.