Health-Care Costs: A State-by-State Comparison

[Valin]

WSJ:

When it comes to spending, some states may get more bang for their buck

LOUISE RADNOFSKY

 

Health-care spending in the U.S. averaged $6,815 per person in 2009. But that figure varies significantly across the country, for reasons that go beyond the relative healthiness, or unhealthiness, of residents in each state.

 

The states that spend the most on health care for each resident are mostly in the Northeast. They are led by Massachusetts, a fact several Republicans used to criticize GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney during the 2012 primaries because as governor Mr. Romney had signed the state's health-care overhaul into law.

 

But Connecticut and Maine also have significant spending, and Maine's expenditures were some of the fastest-growing in the past two decades. Experts generally attribute the region's higher spending to its higher cost of living, greater proportion of elderly residents and number of high-profile hospitals.

 

(Snip)

 

[Draggingtree]

Obamacare architect Rockefeller: It's 'beyond comprehension'

 

April 9, 2013 | 5:27 pm

 

West Virginia Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller, one of the towering architects of Obamacare, on Tuesday openly criticized program managers for not moving quickly enough to build the system, warning that if it gets off to a bumpy start it will just get worse.

Decrying the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as way too complex, he warned the acting Medicare director that Obamacare is "so complicated and if it isn't done right the first time, it will just simply get worse."

The retiring senator also told Marilyn Tavenner at her Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing to be administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that Obamacare rivals tax reform in its capacity to confuse Americans.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/obamacare-architect-rockefeller-its-beyond-comprehension/article/2526681