Unexpected Costs

Any time a politician promises that the savings from some new entitlement will enable the program to "pay for itself," taxpayers should get a firm grip on their wallets. That is certainly true of health care, regarding which we are being told that current inefficiencies are so great that an offer of universal care can come about with minimal costs. However, Statenet notes that the experience of Massachusetts, which has adopted a mandate for universal coverage, is different:

MASSACHUSETTS employers spent more on their workers' health insurance than employers in any other state. According to a recent survey by United Benefit Advisors, one of the country's leading employee benefits advisory organizations, the Bay State's average annual health care cost per employee in 2007 was $9,304, more than 35 percent higher than the national average of $6,881 and about 8 percent up from the state's chart-topping total last year ($8,631).