The state of Massachusetts has the solution to controlling health care costs … just pass a law saying costs can’t rise faster than the State’s economy. Easy right?
It doesn’t seem to be working out that way. According to a Washington Post blog:
Representatives from the state’s nonprofit health plans as well as national for-profit insurers doing business in Massachusetts estimated the “medical cost trend,” a key industry measure, will climb between 6 and 12 percent this year — higher than last year’s cost bump and more than double the 3.6 percent increase set as a target in a state law passed last year.
What happens if costs do grow as quickly as these health plans predict? It’s not quite clear: There is a new agency, the Health Policy Commission Board, that has the authority to review the rates that insurance companies and doctors charge patients.
If that board does find a rate increase inappropriate, it can contact the doctor or hospital, and draw a plan for reducing cost.
Not only is this a bad idea, it is a silly idea. Note the words “has the authority to review the rates that insurance companies and doctors charge patients. If that board does find a rate increase inappropriate, it can contact the doctor or hospital, and draw a plan for reducing cost.”
You see, the rates doctors and hospital charge have never been the problem. What a doctor charges for an office visit or other service has not been increasing unrealistically. The problem is utilization driven by an aging population and lifestyles, the use of expensive technology and the overall use (overuse) of health care services.
These kinds of laws are what happen when politics drive policy. If Massachuetts wants to control overall health care spending to a budget, it better get honest with people. It’s called limiting the amount and intensity of health care provided or as some say Ratoning.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
And others would say “rationing” :>)
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