Former Massachusetts Gov. Dukakis Addresses Strategies To Expand Health Coverage to the Uninsured
A "state-imposed mandate that requires most employers and their employees to contribute to the cost of health insurance" would expand health coverage and save "responsible employers and the taxpayer the billions of dollars we are spending on uninsured employees and their families," former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis (D) writes in a Boston Globe opinion piece. Citing a health coverage law he enacted in 1988, Dukakis writes that "there is a case to be made for exempting small businesses and start-up companies," adding that by requiring firms with more than 15 or 20 full-time employees to provide health coverage, "we could cover nearly half of the people who are currently uninsured in this state without any impact on the state budget, and at the same time, reduce premiums for the businesses that are already insuring their employees and their families."
He writes, "[T]rying to patch up the present system with Band-Aids and paper clips while ignoring the growing burden it is placing on businesses, including a lot of small businesses, that continue to insure their employees is ... anti-growth and anti-business, something that [Gov. Mitt Romney (R)] and the business community should clearly recognize" (Dukakis, Boston Globe, 11/28).