Healthcare for All?

When Save Fitchburg was on "Politically Speaking" last month, we spent a chunk of the show talking with Ralph Romano about the different constituencies state representatives have to manage. The conversation revolved around the tipping point between bringing home as much aid as possible to the home community, while also dealing with statewide issues of some importance.

A good example of that is yesterday's announcement of a new plan to provide some form of health insurance for every person in the state by next year. And it will cost money. $58 million from now until July, and then $125 million a year for the next three years.

This appears to be a good thing. Health insurance for everyone is one of those elusive goals that states have been wrestling with for a long time. It's been a constant Big Issue on Beacon Hill for a decade. Will it work? Will it result in lower costs for everyone? Will it be a better cost choice than the Uncompensated Care Pool, a state entity so convoluted will wrap it up by only saying it's expense is surpassed only by its inefficiency. Certainly, the efficiency and benefits of this plan will only be clear down the road, but it is an encouraging sign.

For Fitchburg (in an attempt to bring it on home), this plan should be very beneficial. There are likely thousands of people -- including children -- in town without health insurance. This provides them at least the basics in health care.

The law includes a $295-per-employee "fee" for businesses that don't offer insurance to employees. Considering the much higher cost of offering insurance, this should hardly be a burden on employers. Obviously this an issue for small businesses, and it will be interesting to see how harmful -- if it is at all -- this plan will be.

Supplying cities and towns with much-needed local aid is a priority for legislators, and it should be. But figuring a way to bring health care to everyone -- even if it's a system that will need adjustments in the future -- is just as important.

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There's a new Fitchburg-centric blog out there. Welcome aboard, Fitchburg First. In the future, they'll be in the links section on the right.

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We plan on closing the polls tomorrow, having given everyone a week to have their say. You can scroll down to find the questions, or click here. It doesn't look like we're going to have a scientifically-acceptible sample size, but it'll give us a lot to talk about.