Last week, The Beacon Hill Institute, a free-market think tank, released a study showing that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s 2006 health-care plan has cost the state more than 18,000 jobs. The Romney campaign dismissed the study claiming that “health care cost increases have slowed since the passage of reform.” But a February 2010 Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy (DHCFP) study concludes that health insurance premiums have increased faster in Massachusetts than in the rest of the nation, since reform became law.
The Beacon Hill job-loss study is premised on the idea that reform-induced higher health spending led to less investment in job creation. “In the private sector, the same resources could have been used to fund investment, job creation and consumer spending, which would have yielded better economic performance,” the Beacon Hill study wrote.
But if the Romney campaign can show that Romney’s health plan decreased health spending, or had no impact, than the entire premise of the Beacon Hill study falls apart.
The February DHCFP study undercuts the Romney campaign’s claim that health reform cut health care costs and supports the Beacon Hill job-loss study. “Massachusetts has higher health insurance premiums than the U.S. average, and for at least the past five years premiums have grown at a faster rate,” the DHCFP report concludes.
The Romney campaign is now disputing the DHCFP study as well:“Massachusetts health care reforms led to a dramatic increase in health insurance coverage while keeping cost growth under control. Massachusetts has always had relatively high health care costs, but the data in this study does not appear to provide any evidence that costs increased at a faster rate after reform than before reform,” Romney aide Ryan Williams tells The Examiner.
This statement is somewhat unresponsive. Health care cost increases could have slowed in Massachusetts post-reform while still outpacing health insurance increases nationwide.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has cited the Beacon Hill job-loss study in his attacks on Romney, but the issue will survive into the general election no matter who the nominee is. Whatever defense the Romney campaign offers of Massachusetts’ record on health care spending now, President Obama can use to defend Obamacare later.
