Universal Coverage Might Be on 2002 Massachusetts Ballot

Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly (D) will decide today the constitutionality of 27 proposed questions for the November 2002 ballot, including one that would ask voters to "deny taxpayer-funded health insurance to every [state] lawmaker ... including the governor, unless the politicians enact a health care program that covers everyone in the state," the Boston Globe reports. If the question receives approval from the attorney general, supporters can begin collecting the required 57,100 signatures needed by Dec. 5. The state Legislature would then "have a chance to act on the question." If the Legislature does not approve the question, supporters could gather another 9,517 signatures by July 2002 to get the question on the November 2002 ballot. The universal care ballot question was submitted by the group behind the "bulky" Question 5 in 2000, which also would have created a universal health care system in Massachusetts but was rejected by voters. Question 5 "had so much detail" that opponents were able to argue that "its effects were unknown," the Globe reports. The health insurance industry "mounted" a $5 million campaign against Question 5; this year, the same faction has hired "prominent law firms" to try to defeat the new question. The opponents view the "question's attempt to deny care to lawmakers as petty and mischievous" and say it is unconstitutional because it is the same as Question 5, a violation of a law prohibiting the reappearance of a ballot question for six years, the Globe reports. Supporters, including two former New England Journal of Medicine editors, a Nobel laureate and a former U.S. surgeon general, say the question is a "populist vehicle" to make legislators expand health coverage when the economic slowdown is expected to leave many residents without insurance. Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and a primary care doctor, said, "The Legislature and governor have taxpayer-funded insurance. The citizens of the Commonwealth deserve what they have. What we're really saying is, we want what you've got" (Mishra, Boston Globe, 9/5). For further information on state health policy in Massachusetts, visit State Health Facts Online.