Spark It Up!!!: Government Controlled "Free" Healthcare Fails....

Here we go...

Around the nation: Hawaii cancels ‘Keiki Care’

Just seven months after its adoption with great fanfare, the state of Hawaii pulled the plug on its program providing for universal child healthcare, known as “Keiki Care” for the native Hawaiian word for “child.” Governor Linda Lingle made the decision as part of a fiscal re-evaluation to address a looming $900-million revenue shortfall by 2011.

Intended to cover previously uninsured children with parents ineligible for Medicaid, the public-private partnership between the state and the Hawaii Medical Service Association had 2,000 enrollees when it was shelved. State officials had anticipated about 3,500 children would eventually enroll in the program (out of up to 16,000 estimated uninsured children in the state) but were surprised to find many parents dropping their existing private coverage they were paying for to enroll their children in the “free” program.

HMSA, the private partner in Keiki Care to whom the decision came as a “complete surprise,” announced that they would continue paying for the coverage through the end of the year. They also noted that they offer private insurance at $55 per month per child. While that’s significantly more than the $7 co-pay for office visits under Keiki Care that parents had to come up with for office visits, the state was paying $25.50 per month per child—while the cost was being supplemented by the HSMA, the rate was sure to rise as more children enrolled in “free” healthcare.

Dropping Keiki Care may not seem like the child-friendly thing to do, but given the examples set for government intrusion into healthcare on the mainland, Hawaiian parents may have been saved big tax bills in the long run.

Very revealing. I underlined the key point, the same reason SSI is burdened. Why should I pay when they don't? Why should I work when they don't? My God will it ever end...