July 9, 2008 3:28PM 

# Massachusetts Opts to Keep Digging 

By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) 

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Yesterday, I [blogged](https://www.cato.org/2008/07/08/just-a-few-more-feet-then-ill-stop-digging/) about Ezra Klein’s claim that [universal coverage](https://www.cato.org/2008/07/07/still-dont-think-universal-coverage-is-a-religion/) would help *[contain](https://www.cato.org/2008/07/02/cohns-fuzzy-math-health-care-plan/)* health care spending. Klein [writes](http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=a_limited_health_care_success_in_massachussetts_):

> This is, at least in the abstract, the political logic of focusing on access first: Expanding access creates pressures that force the system to figure out how to control costs.

That’s what I quoted yesterday. Here are Klein’s next two sentences, about how his theory is unfolding in Massachusetts, which has implemented what the *Boston Globe* [calls](http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/07/08/policy_benefits_that_state_requires_cost_13b_a_year/) a “[near-universal health insurance law](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8431)”:

> There’s evidence this is beginning to happen in Massachusetts. The legislature is beginning to consider cost-control measures.

Oh, are they?

Today, the *Boston Globe* [reports](http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/07/08/policy_benefits_that_state_requires_cost_13b_a_year/) that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts requires consumers to buy so many different types of insurance benefits that it increases premiums by about 6 percent. So how is the legislature grappling with the problem of already expensive premiums that are growing faster than inflation? According to the *Globe*:

> State lawmakers are now considering proposals that could require employers to add more benefits, including expanded mental healthcare coverage.

Wow. I don’t think we can afford much more of this cost containment.

HT: David Hogberg.

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care) 

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