Another Object Lesson To Be Ignored By Congress

As if we need yet another example of a failed “public option” plan, there comes this one from Maine.

Want a preview of ObamaCare in action? Sneak a look at what has happened in Maine. In 2003, the state to great fanfare enacted its own version of universal health care. Democratic Governor John Baldacci signed the plan into law with a bevy of familiar promises. By 2009, it would cover all of Maine's approximately 128,000 uninsured citizens. System-wide controls on hospital and physician costs would hold down insurance premiums. There would be no tax increases. The program was going to provide insurance for everyone and save businesses and patients money at the same time.

After five years, fiscal realities as brutal as the waves that crash along Maine's famous coastline have hit the insurance plan. The system that was supposed to save money has cost taxpayers $155 million and is still rising.

It only took five years to show taxpayers the public option doesn't work, costs far more than governor and the Democrat majority legislature promised, and is in deep trouble, requiring an increasing amount of scarce tax dollars to support.

Many of the same arguments used to promote Maine's DirigoCare are being used to promote ObamaCare. As far as I can tell the differences in the economics of the programs are small other than the size of the programs, which means the shortfalls experienced by ObamaCare will likely be proportionately larger than the deficit being experienced by Maine. The Congressional Budget Office has already come right out and said Congress and President have seriously underestimated the cost of implementing and running ObamaCare. That members of Congress haven't learned the lessons of TennCare, MassCare, and DirigoCare is disturbing. What's insane is that these same members of Congress want to do the same thing on a national scale, ignoring that they are likely to end up with exactly the same result as the other programs – less care, higher costs, scarce medical resources, and an ever increasing amount of taxpayer dollars to fix the problem of their own making.