Mass. healthcare reform increased access

Massachusetts health reform effectively increased access to healthcare and reduced disparities, Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health found. "As the political rhetoric heats up in advance of another presidential election cycle, it's important to understand what the experience in Massachusetts tells us about the effects of health reform on access and affordability of care," senior author Joshua Salomon, associate professor of international health at the Harvard School of Public Health, said in a statement. Salomon and first author Aakanksha Pande, a doctoral student at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, found that three years after it was enacted in 2006, Massachusetts health reform was associated with a 7.6 percent increase in health insurance among residents -- a 4.8 percent decrease in those forgoing healthcare due to cost and 6.6 percent increase in residents having a primary care physician. The improvements were most evident among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, the researchers say. Does Massachusetts health reform provide a good proxy for national reform? "Yes and no," Pande said. The state law and the federal law are similar, including the provision of a health mandate that requires all residents to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty, the researchers say. However, Massachusetts health reform was passed with very little opposition in the state legislature, whereas the federal healthcare reform met with contention -- and for this reason, implementing health reform at the national level might prove more difficult, the study said.