Massachusetts Health Stats

In Massachusetts, FDR's Grandson Squeezes Seniors on Medicare to Cover High Medicaid Costs

(For more on the national implications of health care reform on United States Medicare, and information on other Medicare issues, see theabcsofmedicare blog here.)

OK, that headline's a little over the top but that's apparently how you get people to read blog posts. (Either that or you claim that the Democratic Congresspeople and politicians who just paid you about $4,000,000 are "stupid").

What this post really is about is a great Boston Business Journal summary of Tufts Health Plan's 2014 and 2015 financial outlook by reporter Jessica Bartlett. (But if I just put that in the headline, would you have clicked through?). Bartlett's story is much better than the mail-it-in crap in the Globe this morning which just regurgitates the third quarter numbers without giving the full-year or lookahead context. You might understand that sort of story in the Globe if it were bylined by some junior journalism intern but the Globe story was written by its leading business editor.

Gruber's Deceptions about RomneyCare Still Hidden by Both Political Parties

It's surprising to me that some year-old videotapes where MIT Professor Jonathan Gruber blathers on about how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, Obamacare) was written -- and why -- continue to percolate on the web. It is not surprising that I have not seen this story anywhere on the left-wing broadcast networks and I believe a short mention on Friday November 14 is the first appearance in the Boston Globe--again not surprising.

But no one is getting to the substance of the deception although the first hint of it is showing up on Daily Caller.

Single-Payer Rationer Berwick Joins the Attack on Massachusetts' Partners Healthcare

Former temporary Medicare director and former Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Berwick recently joined the chorus of complaints about how bad Partners Healthcare System is for Massachusetts residents. Berwick said:

"Partners’ prices hover around 30 percent higher than the state average, and its “total medical expenditures” — adjusted for the severity of the patients it cares for — are nearly 10 percent higher than the average."

So given the incredible imprecision of the state's statistics concerning health care, Partners prices, which are 10% higher according to Berwick after you take into account who Partners treats according to Berwick -- and you take into account that a 10% difference is basically statistically insignificant -- are basically the same as everyone else's.

Lowell Sun, Capuano Say "Massachusetts Was Stiffed" By Medicare/Medicaid; Obama Disagrees

There is an interesting article in the Lowell Sun this week -- and other articles appearing everywhere quoting Congressperson Capuano -- claiming that Massachusetts got a bad deal from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which screwed ("stiffed" in Lowell Sun terminology) Massachusetts out of billions of dollars in Medicaid money. I wish someone would do a little research before opining on this issue and answer a few simple questions.

• What is a Medicaid waiver?
• What is a Medicaid demonstration?

What is being waived are the rules other states have to follow to get reimbursed for half of the state's Medicaid spending (except that a bunch of the other states also get waivers, making Medicaid just another completely screwed up government program).

Massachusetts AG Coakley, Citing 1995 Microsoft Ruling, Tells Partners' Settlement Judge to Butt Out

I presume that Attorney General Martha Coakley herself was otherwise tied up on Halloween when her staff filed its umpteenth legal document related to its proposed settlement with Partners Healthcare allowing Mass. General, etc. to acquire South Shore Hospital, a couple of other facilities north of Boston, and eventually Emerson. I also don't know much about how polite you have to be when addressing the judge that will decide for or against you. But it appears as if Coakley's staff pulled no punches in its response to Judge Janet Sanders whiny little butt-insky in her court on September 29:

“I’m sure there’s significance to it, particularly in the efficient delivery of high-quality health care, but where I have serious concerns is the impact the settlement has on Massachusetts, on the health care costs for all Massachusetts citizens.”

The AG's response says

"limits on the judiciary’s review of proposed consent judgments are compelled by separation of powers principles, as a court’s “authority to review the decree depends entirely on the government’s exercising its prosecutorial discretion by bringing a case in the first place.”"

RomneyCare "Architect" Suffers Major Defeat in "Massachusetts Wave" Election

One of Massachusetts many self-annointed "RomneyCare architects," a high-ranking Massachusetts State Senator from Central Massachusetts and a former Clinton-administration political appointee¹, lost to a young Republican in what in Massachusetts passes for a "wave election²." The State Senator had run for years with no or basically no opposition and when finally facing an election -- that actually had polling and everything -- fell back on asking for votes because of his creation of the half dozen 2005-2010 Massachusetts laws that are collectively called RomneyCare.

Did Massachusetts U.S. Senator Ed Markey Vote to Kick His Republican Opponent's Mother Off Her Medigap Insurance?

(For more on the national implications of health care reform on United States Medicare, and information on other Medicare issues, see theabcsofmedicare blog here.)

There is reportedly a strange ad running in the lightly contested Republican effort to unseat United States Senator Edward Markey of Massashusetts. Supposeldy the Republican's mother, who does not live in Massachusetts¹ but in Pennsylvania, lost her Medigap insurance because of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, better known as Obamacare).

Vermont's Shumlin: Blood-Sucking Massachusetts Republican Charlie Baker Screws Seniors on Medicare

That blood-sucking, billionairre Massachusetts Republican governor candidate Charlie Baker screws thousands of seniors out of their Medicare coverage according to Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin, chairman, and the rest of the Democratic Governors Association (DGA).

I was surprised to find (and very much doubt) that -- according to the Boston Globe on October 24 -- candidate Baker has opened up an almost 10-point lead in the Massachusetts governor race.

Number of People Insured by RomneyCare/Obamacare/Medicare in Massachusetts Now Exceeds Population of State

How much do you want to bet that before the day is out some far-left-wing web site will publish the just released Massachusetts Center for Healthcare Information and Analysis (CHIA) report on the number of people in Massachusetts with healthcare insurance as of July 2014 and claim that Massachusetts has reached total 100% insurance coverage.

What the hell; the news is better than that.

Massachusetts Goo Goos Appear to Take Healthcare Reform Propaganda To New Level of Nuttiness

There are variations of this Boston-University-radio-station story all over the Internet¹ claiming Massachusetts now allows we health-care consumers/patients in Massachusetts to "shop around" for health care. The reality behind the story seems to me to be totally misleading but I admit that what the Massachusetts state government says the new law covers is also so confusing that I cannot be sure if I'm right².

So far what the new law appears to mean is that my healthcare policy is now online (I thought it always was?).