Massachusetts experience can inform national health reform debate
In 2006, Massachusetts enacted health reform that has increased its insured citizens to 97.3 percent of state residents. While some say that this health reform has been too costly, experts at the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) believe that the experience in Massachusetts can help inform the national debate over health reform.
Massachusetts’ Health Care Reform Act requires individuals, businesses and the government to take steps to ensure that every Massachusetts resident has health insurance coverage. The law includes an individual mandate that required every state resident to obtain health care coverage or pay an annual tax penalty by July 1, 2007. In addition, employers are required by the law to offer health care coverage to employees or pay a fair share contribution, as well as offer an IRC Sec. 125 cafeteria plan to employees.
The NEJM article stated that the philosophy of shared responsibility behind [the Massachusetts] reform provides a sense of fairness and allows government spending to be leveraged to accomplish societal goals.
The individual mandate works hand in hand with employer incentives to expand private coverage, as long as government subsidies are available for low-income individuals … If national reform were to include policies that achieved rates of employer offers and employee take-up similar to those in Massachusetts, it could have a substantial effect on spreading the costs and reducing the government’s burden.
In addition, the debate about the cost of national health reform should be framed in terms of new expenditures and predictable funding streams that can be redirected to other uses. These should include, at a minimum, projected savings, at all levels of government, from potential reductions in the costs of paying for public clinics and uncompensated care. Savings from the latter should also accrue to private entities.
The NEJM article concluded, Finally, national reform must support the gains made in Massachusetts by supporting the building blocks that made change successful: expansion of Medicaid eligibility, subsidies for the poor, the individual mandate, and fair-share employer contributions.
For more information about the NEJM article, Massachusetts Health Care Reform—Near-Universal Coverage at What Cost?, visit http://healthcarereform.nejm.org/?p=2135&query=TOC.
Source: Spencer’s Benefits Reports.
Reprinted with permission. © CCH
(Submitted Oct. 29, 2009)
<p>Massachusetts experience can inform national health reform debate In 2006, Massachusetts enacted health reform that has increased its insured citizens to 97.3 percent of state residents. While some say that this health reform has been too costly, experts at the</p>
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