An additional 439,000 Massachusetts residents have obtained health insurance policy since June 2006, when the land began mandating that all residents make health coverage, according to a reputation by the state Division of Health Care Finance and Policy released on Tuesday, the Boston Globe reports.
Before the law of nature took force, an estimated 600,000 state residents were uninsured (Lazar, Boston Globe, 8/20). According to the report, released by Gov. Deval Patrick's (D) office, most half of the new insured residents have purchased private insurance coverage, including 159,000 with employer-sponsored coverage and 32,000 with individual insurance, while 248,000 obtained state-subsidized coverage from June 2006 through March 2008 (Boston Globe graphic, 8/20). The composition also found the number of hospitals and community health center visits by uninsured residents declined by 37% 'tween July and September 2007, compared with the same period the previous year. As a result, the state decreased charity attention expenses by $68 one thousand thousand during that period. "The figures ... provide some of the to the highest degree compelling evidence so far" that the "experiment" to require all residents to obtain health insurance is working, according to the Globe (Boston Globe, 8/20).
The reputation is usable online (.pdf).
Editorial
The Massachusetts health insurance law "is working," a Boston Herald editorial states. But according to the editorial "it isn't all pleasantness and light," adding, "Not surprisingly, some of those who signed up early on were those wHO needed health care the most and who had neglected health issues for too long. Insurers have found their own toll of reportage soaring" and "government, of course, which is picking up the tab both for MassHealth and for those subsidies, is struggling, too." As a solvent of higher-than-expected enrollment and costs, insurers will pay up an extra $33 million, while wellness care providers will give an extra $20 1000000 in assessments to the program.
The editorial concludes, "It's howling to celebrate success," adding, "It's too critical to make sure this program doesn't suit a victim of that success and further victimize those segments of the community -- business, wellness providers and insurers -- who make it act upon" (Boston Herald, 8/21).
Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can buoy view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.
