<\/p>\n
Mitt Romney’s health care reform law in Massachusetts has gone down a path that should concern supporters of Obamacare. (David Goldman \/ AP)<\/p>\n
Weeks after the botched rollout of Obamacare\u2019s exchanges, Democrats are desperately trying to reassure Americans that a not-ready-for-primetime website is unrelated to the benefits customers will experience when they can finally enroll.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite this initial bump in the road, we must remember the Affordable Care Act is more than a website,\u201d wrote Congressman John Dingell, D-Dearborn, in a constituent email over the weekend. \u201cIt\u2019s affordable, quality health insurance made available to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
But that reassurance is no\u00a0more credible than the fib<\/a>\u00a0that website crashes were due to high traffic volumes. Yes, Obamacare is more than a website \u2014 it is more premium hikes, more government deficits, more waiting to get care. How do we know?<\/p>\n Because Obamacare is modeled after Massachusetts\u2019 2006 health care law. Indeed, President Obama will be in Boston Wednesday singing its praises. But for the last seven years, Romneycare has failed in its promise of lower costs, better care access and universal coverage.<\/p>\n Passed by Republican Gov. Mitt Romney and a Democratic legislature, Romneycare pioneered Obamacare\u2019s now familiar individual mandate, government-built health exchanges, and Medicaid expansion. Defensive about his signature gubernatorial achievement being the model for his presidential rival\u2019s unpopular reform, Romney in 2012 said that reform should be state-based and\u00a0not<\/i>\u00a0centrally-planned from Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n Romneycare was actually tailored for the known demographics of its state\u2019s uninsured population, unlike its wide-open federal counterpart. As a result, Romneycare\u2019s smooth rollout was a contrast to Obamacare\u2019s chaos.<\/p>\n But, ominously, the wheels started to come off as Romneycare\u2019s features kicked in. Within two years of its launch, the program\u2019s\u00a0costs were exploding<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cCoverage for the uninsured in the state exchange was more expensive than estimated,\u201d says Josh Archambault, director of Health Care Policy at Massachusetts\u2019 Pioneer Institute, of 20 percent cost over-runs that necessitated tax hikes. To control costs, he adds, Massachusetts also doubled down on exchange regulation, reducing customers\u2019 choices.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, Romneycare inflated state health premiums that were already among the nation\u2019s highest. Which is to say, while Romneycare has failed to reduce costs, its residents were already paying for a heavily regulated system. Not so for the rest of America, which is now witnessing sticker shock as Washington imposes Massachusetts-sized costs on\u00a0everyone<\/i>. Michigan premiums for an average family will grow 12 percent, according to exchange data compiled by the Heritage Foundation. Indiana\u2019s premiums rise 26 percent; Florida\u2019s 25 percent.<\/p>\n Massachusetts\u2019\u00a0health entitlement spending ballooned to 40 percent<\/a>\u00a0of its budget (and you thought Michigan\u2019s 25 percent was out of control). But didn\u2019t all this spending lead to universal health coverage in Massachusetts? No. The state already had an unusually low 6 percent of its population uninsured. Romneycare has cut that number in half, mostly with hundreds of millions in government subsides. But coverage is still not universal.<\/p>\n Meanwhile,\u00a0access\u00a0<\/i>to health care has declined.<\/p>\n If Romneycare predicted Obamacare\u2019s high costs, it warns of worse: growing physician shortages as regulations drive caregivers from the market. A 2011 survey \u201cby the Massachusetts Medical Society reveals that fewer than half of the state\u2019s primary care practices are accepting new patients, down from 70 percent in 2007,\u201d\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0Anne-Marie Turner, president of the Galen Institute. \u201cThe average wait time for a routine checkup with an internist is 48 days. It takes 41 days to see an OB\/GYN, up from 34\u201d in one year.<\/p>\n This doctor shortage, driven by poor government reimbursement for health services, also has increased hospital emergency room visits, contradicting Obama\u2019s \u2014 and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder\u2019s \u2014 claim that Medicaid expansion will reduce uncompensated care. Just 53 percent of internists and 62 percent of family physicians, for example, will see Massachusetts Medicaid patients.<\/p>\n \u201cInsurance rates have continued to increase with more mandates like fertility coverage,\u201d says Paul Bachman, director of research for Boston\u2019s Beacon Hill Institute. \u201cSo now the governor has approved price controls that dictate that health costs can\u2019t increase more than inflation.\u201d That means more doctor shortages.<\/p>\n As Romneycare shows, the future does not fulfill John Dingell\u2019s promise. The Affordable Care Act is unaffordable.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mitt Romney’s health care reform law in Massachusetts has gone down a path that should concern supporters of Obamacare. (David Goldman \/ AP) Weeks after the botched rollout of Obamacare\u2019s exchanges, Democrats are desperately trying to reassure Americans that a not-ready-for-primetime website is unrelated to the benefits customers will experience when they can finally enroll. 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