I've just seen something that gives me hope for Obama's health care reform plan. It was something new, something I have never seen before, and something surely beyond the experience of most Americans. It was in an ordinary envelope marked with the distinct insignia of the Massachusetts Blue Cross. These packets never held good news, but I had to open it. I did. I pulled out the folded sheet and read it, and I was totally surprised.
How was that for a teaser?
I barely recognized what I was seeing. I had to read the page twice, but my first take was correct: my 2011 medical insurance rates were going down.
It wasn't by a stupendous sum, but it meant $400 or more I could spend on something besides medical insurance. This was only a few percentage points, but I have been buying medical insurance since the 1980s, and in all that time, whether I was paying the full load or just my share on top of what my employer paid, I had never seen a price decrease. Never!
To be honest, it took a few minutes for this to sink in. I have a top of the line policy, but in 2011 there would be rate decreases across the board. I suppose you're now expecting me to write, "Then I woke up. It had all been a dream.", but I just checked the notice again, and there it was in black and white, a rate decrease.
I'm insured in Massachusetts, which has always been a state for firsts. The first shots of the American Revolution were fired there. One of the first acts of the state's supreme court was to outlaw slavery. (One of the first acts of the state legislature was to impose a stamp tax, one not all that different from the one that the Boston Tea Party was protesting.) It was one of the first states to allow gay couples to get married. It was also one of the first states to implement a universal medical coverage plan, and this in a state chock full of hospitals, doctors, medical schools and pharmaceutical companies.
The plan, is informally known as Romney-care, named for the Republican governor who pushed for, signed, and later denounced the legislation when it was proposed as a national plan. (I'll correct this if I'm wrong.) Needless to say, Romney-care has had its problems, but it did impose an individual mandate, and it does provide for health insurance of last resort. It also served as the model for what many see as Obama's national health insurance plan.
Romney-care has been around for a few years now and fully in effect, while Obama-care has just started phasing in, but this single sheet of letter size paper, twice folded, has given me hope. My premium will be lower in 2011! Maybe, just maybe, there is a way to turn the tide of the ever rising medical costs that threaten to crush our economy. Now, I may be reading too much into this - one robin does not make a spring - but I sincerely hope I am getting a glimpse of the future.