On The Road To Universal Coverage: Impacts Of Reform In Massachusetts At One Year

In April 2006, Massachusetts passed legislation intended to move the state to near-universal coverage within three years and, in conjunction with that expansion, to improve access to affordable, high-quality health care. In roughly the first year under reform, uninsurance among working-age adults wa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inHealth Affairs Vol. 27; no. 4; pp. w270 - w284
Main Author Long, Sharon K
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Health Affairs 01.07.2008
The People to People Health Foundation, Inc., Project HOPE
Subjects
Adolescent
Adult
Adults
Cost
Health care policy
Health Care Reform
Health Care Surveys
Health insurance
Health Policy
Health Services Accessibility - legislation & jurisprudence
Health Services Accessibility - trends
Humans
Impact analysis
Legislation
Massachusetts
Medically Uninsured - statistics & numerical data
Middle Aged
Reforms
Universal Coverage - economics
Universal Coverage - legislation & jurisprudence
Universal Coverage - trends
Massachusetts
United States > US
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Summary:In April 2006, Massachusetts passed legislation intended to move the state to near-universal coverage within three years and, in conjunction with that expansion, to improve access to affordable, high-quality health care. In roughly the first year under reform, uninsurance among working-age adults was reduced by almost half among those surveyed, dropping from 13 percent in fall 2006 to 7 percent in fall 2007. At the same time, access to care improved, and the share of adults with high out-of-pocket costs and problems paying medical bills dropped. Despite higher-than-anticipated costs, most residents of the state continued to support reform.
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ISSN:0278-2715
1544-5208
DOI:10.1377/hlthaff.27.4.w270