Experts Question Viability of Mass. Health Insurance Law
The Massachusetts health insurance law enacted last year "offers both a way forward and a warning that puts the state at the center of a growing national debate over extending health care to millions of Americans," Reuters reports.
According to Reuters, other states have studied the law -- and California has proposed "bolder legislation" -- but the problem is "designing affordable plans for the many uninsured people whose earnings put them only slightly above the poverty line."
Some health care policy analysts have questioned whether the Massachusetts law will have "financial viability over the longer term and whether states with bigger pools of uninsured and greater numbers of poor can replicate it," Reuters reports.
In addition, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), who has announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, "has begun downplaying expectations and distancing himself from the plan," according to Reuters (Szep, Reuters, 2/22).