Cape Care moves forward

Cape Care has hired its first employee, and hopes to bring single-payer to the 11 communities on Cape Cod that passed a non-binding resolution in support of single-payer — called Cape Care. What they haven't done is passed a tax levy to support the system.

Under a single-payer system, every resident of Barnstable County would be entitled to comprehensive health care coverage, in the same way that all residents are entitled to municipal police protection or public school education.

The county would have its own insurance product and pay for coverage by assessing residents a certain amount, the mechanics of which have yet to be worked out.

Barnstable County commissioners haven't bought into the plan yet, nor do they know much about it. "We haven't heard any details on how much it would cost or how it would work," Commissioner Bill Doherty said.

The Cape Cod folks are pointing out that while taxes would go up, overall costs would go down. This could be a silver lining for mandates like those in Massachusetts. If you're forced to buy a bad product, you might be more open to paying more taxes (but less overall) for a better product.

Those clever health insurance companies. I couldn't understand why they'd be against the Massachusetts' plan — which, after all, forced people to buy their crappy product. It turns out they were thinking ahead. I'm afraid they're smarter than the rest of us put together.