Health care insurance reform notes from South Carolina

Health care reform watchers here in Massachusetts are following local details as they unfold, interrupted somewhat by the changing of the guard as Patrick appointees will fill various posts now held by Romney appointees. 

Many of us follow with interest developments in other states as well (see this post and comment).  Some in the business community are concerned that the Massachusetts law goes too far in terms of imposing obligations on employers.

How refreshing it is, then, to hear from Jay Ragley, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business/South Carolina, a small-business advocacy group.  He wrote an op-ed piece, on the need for choice in health insurance for small business, that ran in yesterday’s Greenville (S.C.) News.  His piece, and the comments posted on the News website taking issue with it, show that the debate is alive and well not only in MA, NJ, CA, etc., but also in states like SC, described by Ragley as needing health insurance reform and being plagued with extremely poor health status across the population at large.  I don’t know anything else about the insurance market or legislative agenda in SC, but here’s hoping that national engagement with these issues will have positive effects in each state.

— David Harlow