A Bold, Necessary Move... Now It's Congress' Turn To Step Up

Mass. Bill Requires Health Coverage: State Set to Use Auto Insurance As a Model

There is no justification for not having universal health care coverage for every citizen (note: CITIZEN, not resident or illegal immigrant). While I am not sure that the Massachusetts plan should be the model for a federal plan, I am proud to be a native of the Bay State. It is a bold move that calls to the rest of the nation to correct a basic injustice in our society... the lack of adequate health care for over 45 million people. It is all the more shameful that we are the only great industrialized nation/super power in the world that has not seen fit to implement a national health care plan that would provide at least BASIC care. Instead we insist on supplementing hospitals through outrageous emergency room fees and hospitalization when at least 2/3 of these costs could be lowered by providing basic care coverage.

I am not accustomed to saying this because the members of the Massachusetts House and Senate are notorious screw-ups, but BRAVO to the Massachusetts General Court!

The Massachusetts legislature approved a bill Tuesday that would require all residents to purchase health insurance or face legal penalties, which would make this the first state to tackle the problem of incomplete medical coverage by treating patients the same way it does cars.

Gov. Mitt Romney (R) supports the proposal, which would require all uninsured adults in the state to purchase some kind of insurance policy by July 1, 2007, or face a fine. Their choices would be expanded to include a range of new and inexpensive policies -- ranging from about $250 per month to nearly free -- from private insurers subsidized by the state.

Romney said the bill, modeled on the state's policy of requiring auto insurance, is intended to end an era in which 550,000 people go without insurance and their hospital and doctor visits are paid for in part with public funds.

"We insist that everybody who drives a car has insurance," Romney said in an interview. "And cars are a lot less expensive than people."

Tuesday's votes approving the bill -- 154 to 2 in the House and 37 to 0 in the Senate -- were the culmination of two years of politicking and several months of backroom negotiations, as rival health-care plans from Romney and the two Democrat-led chambers were hammered into one.

What resulted is a proposal that health-care experts say is unlike any other in the country. What to do about the 45 million Americans without health insurance has flummoxed both the Bush administration, whose proposal for "health savings accounts" fizzled, and that of Bill Clinton, whose broad plan for health-care changes fell flat.