Massachusetts Health Insurance Law Provides ‘Invaluable’ Information, Should Continue With Revisions, Opinion Piece States
The Massachusetts health insurance law "is on track to get virtually every citizen insured" and allows state residents to purchase portable, individual coverage at the "same low rates that are paid by employers," and "what we are learning" from the law has proven "invaluable," former Gov. Mitt Romney (R) writes in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece. According to Romney, the law -- which requires residents to obtain health insurance, with subsidies for lower-income residents -- has led to improved access to health care, addressed the issue of "free-riders" and improved the cost and value of individual coverage.
However, "there are corrections that are needed" because the law "is more costly than it needs to be," Romney writes. He cites the need to require "everyone to pay something" for health insurance, eliminate coverage mandates for health insurers, end direct payments from the state to hospitals that treat a large number of low-income patients, impose strict "requirements for free care" and promote "cost containment" strategies.
Romney writes that the Bush administration "in the coming days" will consider "whether to continue to facilitate this experiment by accepting the state's financial contribution as qualifying for federal matching funds as in the past." In the event that the "federal government refuses or reduces federal participation, the state could be forced to curtail the program," he adds. Romney writes, "The left argues that to get everyone insured, the federal government must take over health care," but lawmakers "from both parties in Massachusetts and the Bush administration have proven them wrong" with the enactment of the law, adding, "It would be a mistake to walk away from it now" (Romney, Wall Street Journal, 7/12).
