Massachusetts health reform: beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Abstract

The Massachusetts plan to extend health insurance coverage to nearly all of the state's residents offers several lessons related to health reform, including the following: Bipartisan cooperation is possible; multiple policy mechanisms must be employed to achieve meaningful change; the starting point-in terms of the rate of uninsurance, the degree of insurance market regulation, and so on-matters; and implementation details are critical. In addition to these lessons, we argue that objective analysis and a comprehensive framework for evaluating alternative policy options are needed for similar reforms to be enacted elsewhere.