Yesterday, we posted on the successes of the universal health insurance mandate in Massachusetts: the number of uninsured residents way down and the number of emergency room visits are down.
But like just about everything else in the world, there’s a downside to every upside.
For Massachusetts’individual health insurance law, the major downside is government spending.
According to a report from Moody’s Investors Service, Massachusetts is set to spend $869 million for the 2008 fiscal year.
That’s a 41 percent increase in costs from fiscal year 2007, reported Reuters.
“Costs related to [Massachusetts’] 2007 health care reforms are increasing far more rapidly than initially projected, ” said a Moody’s representative.
So it seems like these high costs should be factored in when measuring the success of the state’s universal health care.