Obama in Boston: Does Massachusetts prove Obamacare will work?

[sheshe2]

President Obama, in a scramble to defend his health-care reforms, has a simple message: If you question whether the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will work, just look at Massachusetts.

snip/

Massachusetts has seen a dramatic reduction in the percentage of residents who lack insurance coverage for medical care, good competition among insurance firms to offer that coverage, and no big spike in costs, says Jonathan Gruber, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology expert on health policy who helped design both Obamacare and the earlier law in his home state.

“We need to be patient,” Mr. Gruber told reporters in a briefing organized by the White House ahead of Obama’s Wednesday trip to Boston. Residents of Massachusetts didn’t sign up in droves in the first month, and Obamacare's success “needs to be measured in months and years, not days and weeks.”

He pushed back against critics who have framed the ACA as a government takeover of health care. “The notion that this is ... antithetical to private insurance is simply wrong,” he said, noting that employer-based coverage of Massachusetts workers increased after the state enacted its law.



http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2013/1030/Obama-in-Boston-Does-Massachusetts-prove-Obamacare-will-work

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino gives President Obama a Boston Red Sox cap as he arrives at Boston Logan Airport


President Obama leaves a tent with NBA basketball legend Bill Russell after being given a preview of a statue of Russell. At left is Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick






President Obama smiles after he said that environmental protesters who interrupted his speech were at the wrong event as he speaks at Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall about the federal health care law


Cathey Park holds up her cast to show the signature of President Obama after he signed it

http://theobamadiary.com/

From Boston and Proud!

Edited to add~

************************This is Posted in The Barack Obama Group****************

[NoOneMan]

1. Mass pays over $9K a head

I guess if you think that's irrelevant or a meager cost for the people and the economy, then its a smashing success. Maybe I don't get it.

[sheshe2]

2. Would you please back that statement up with a few facts,

or at the very least a link.

BTW, this is posted in The Barack Obama Group. We are not a forum, that would be GD. You may wish to read our Statement of Purpose. Link:

The mission of the Barack Obama Group is to discuss information and news about the life, career, accomplishments, and presidency of Barack Obama; to provide a haven for those members of Democratic Underground who support the president and his policies; to discuss President Obama's policy positions, speeches, interviews, and other public appearances; to discuss President Obama's political campaigns; and to discuss the causes which President Obama has championed, including health care reform and ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Those who have a generally negative view of President Obama and his administration, support his defeat in the 2012 presidential election (in primaries or the general election), or who are generally supportive of those who do, are not welcome in the Barack Obama Group.

I thank you in advance for your consideration, NoOneMan.

[NoOneMan]

3. KFF cites it at $9,278 in 2009

http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/health-spending-per-capita/

The mission of the Barack Obama Group is to discuss information and news about the life, career, accomplishments, and presidency of Barack Obama...

As for that, sorry. I didn't notice it was posted in that forum and thought the content of the post was up for discussion. I'll be more careful in the future

[mopinko]

4. a pretty complicated data base, and

quite out of date.
not likely to lead to informed debate.

[NoOneMan]

6. In terms of being out of date, currently its projected to get worse

Health costs in Mass. are heading upward
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/03/04/medical-costs-are-rise-putting-risk-state-efforts-tie-health-spending-growth-economy/NZbvXc8uHVFKSlQNfIwp3O/story.html

In a 2013 report, Compared to the national average "MA spends 36% more than the US on a per capita basis on personal health care expenditures across all categories of services"
http://blog.hcfama.org/2013/10/08/cost-trends-hearing-2013-looks-at-states-health-ecosystem/

But what is important to note: "Higher costs were not caused or markedly accelerated by health reform, as
Massachusetts has been a high-spending state for years"
http://bluecrossmafoundation.org/sites/default/files/download/publication/Cost%20Deck%20March%202013.pdf

Conversely, such health reform did not markedly improve costs or mitigate a situation that is out of control. If we are to learn anything from MA, the US still is going to be facing the ever-growing burden of health costs, which stress both families and the economy.

With that, I need to bow out here. I mistakenly posted in this sub-group and I'm pretty sure this response in itself is probably unwelcomed according to the aforementioned purpose of this group. Sorry.

[mopinko]

7. or perhaps the lesson is-

invest in the short term, reap healthier citizens in the long term.
a flood of pent up demand is to be expected. and needed.
it will take a little longer to decide what mass will reap for what it has sown.

but yeah, prolly not the place.

[mopinko]

5. i'll try to remember that cast trick.

what a great souvenir.

[freshwest]

8. Another great OP. Love the last pic, too.

[sheshe2]

9. Hey freshwest, thank you~

He was in Boston, sigh. I had to work.