Monday, January 22, 2007

Connecticut Plan is Solution in Search of Problem

"Charter Oak" Health Plan Inferior to Alternatives

Categories: Connecticut

M. Jodi Rell, governor of Connecticut, says that the "Charter Oak Health Plan" would come at "no cost to the state." But D. Dowd Muska of the Yankee Institute is skeptical, especially about claims that the ranks of the uninsured represent a failure of capitalism and markets.

"There is no true marketplace for health insurance," he writes. A large portion of the state's budget (30 percent) is taken up with healthcare expenses, the state imposes stringent restrictions on insurance that is sold, and a large chunk of total health spending is done through government.

Further, notes Muska, the proportion of the Connecticut residents without insurance is about half that of the national rate.

While Governor Rell calls for a stripped-down insurance plan, anything created or fostered through public officials will be subjected to lobbying that will soon lard up the plan with enough costs to make it out of the reach of those it is intended to help.